The Why We Fall Apart
by Ikedawg43
Summary: The Grimm are beaten, the day is saved, and humanity reclaims Remnant. Their job is complete, and now everyone is settling down and leading the happy lives that used to be out of reach. Except for one of them. Jaune has been out of contact for years, ever since the falling out. They've let that go on long enough. It was time to get their friend back.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey all, guess what? I couldn't stay retired. If you read MoNT, this is the story I mentioned I was most likely to write. It's only going to be five, maybe six, chapters long, and I have four written so far. **

**I'm not committing to an actual upload schedule here, but I do have most of the story written. I'll alternate between uploading this story or another, secret one I'm collaborating with someone on. Unless we change our mind and post it on his account, which could happen; in that case, I'll let you guys know where to find it. **

**Without further delay, I present: **

* * *

**_The "Why" We Fall Apart  
_****_chapter one _**

* * *

"…so after I break into the substation that powered most of Atlas' industrial district and charge up, I go fucking shooting across the sky, terrified out of my mind that I would never make it to Ren in time!" Nora explained excitedly, banging her fist on the table for emphasis. It rattled her three empty and one half-empty pints – which Ren had casually explained earlier that, until Nora hit five, wouldn't even affect her. That had impressed the hell out of Sun; Nora would love Vacuo.

Nora turned to her side and glared at her husband, as if she was still a little ticked off about this story she was telling a decade later. Ren hid his smirk behind his craft IPA, though he met Nora's eyes challengingly.

She couldn't resist telling the story and let him off the hook to turn back to us. "I'm hyped up on more electricity than even I can handle and I might have even levitated – I don't know, okay, that was a lot of juice in me – so I took Magnhild and slammed it on the frozen ground to bounce for miles to make it to him, and… and this bastard—" Nora let out, words failing her as she tilted to dramatically glare at Ren once more, "—was surrounded by Beowolves, Ursas, Griffons, Nevermores, packs of Ravagers, small Wyverns, and some other shit I didn't even see at Salem's fortress. And he's just… sitting there. in the middle of more Grimm than I even saw in the Grimmlands, with his legs crossed and his arms held out in front of him… meditating!"

Jaune and Sun laughed hard as Ren casually shrugged, pretending not to know why Nora was so upset. Blake laughed quietly to herself, which Sun knew because he could feel it from the arm draped casually around Blake's shoulder.

"You're exaggerating," Ren let out, though his cheeks warmed up in embarrassment just a bit, "about all of it. I wasn't in any danger, not with my Semblance."

"Well, you did send out an SOS," Sun pointed out with a cheeky grin.

"Which specifically mentioned that I was fine and surrounded by Grimm, and that you should get an airship ready for when the Grimm clear out," Ren countered firmly. It felt like a rehashed argument from how smoothly it came out. This clearly wasn't Nora's first time telling this story.

"I don't know," Jaune jumped in. "You still sent an SOS—"

"Thank you!" Nora let out exasperated.

"—and you should have known that Nora wouldn't actually read it."

Nora glared Jaune down for that addendum, to which the man made a show of taking a long swig from his own pint and pointedly not looking at Nora. Blake giggled at the childish scene; even a decade later, Nora could bring out the child in all of them. Sun figured this all reminded Blake of Beacon, if the smile she couldn't hide was any indication. Hell, it reminded him of Beacon, and he had spent, like, a semester in Vale pretending to go to those transfer classes before the last Vytal Festival.

"Nora makes it sound like she was the one most upset by that," Ren countered, cutting his eyes at his wife coyly, and continuing before she could object, "but think about it from my perspective. I'm surrounded by Grimm and need evac, and Nora crashes to the ground in front of me like a bomb, which stirs up all of the Grimm, and then I have to focus twice as hard to use my Semblance on both of us. Do you know how hard it is to get Nora to sit still regularly, much less when she's powered up?"

"Yeah, I only ever sit still when I'm on my knees, and even then it's only for a few minutes at a time!"

"Nora!" Blake tried to chastise, only for a laugh to work its way out as she did so. Jaune and Sun found it funny and didn't see any reason to get on to her for it. Ren looked slightly embarrassed by the 'few minutes' part, but if anyone was used to the crazy things Nora says, it's him.

A lull fell over the group after that, but it wasn't an awkward silence by any stretch. When the four of them had come to Argus to spend a Saturday with Jaune, he had insisted on bringing them to this restaurant. It was close enough to the military base that it was accustomed to soldiers and Huntsmen, and the second-story balcony terrace was the perfect mix of an open-air yet secluded environment that they could talk freely. That, and Jaune mentioned that he ate there often enough that the staff and regulars wouldn't freak out if they saw celebrities such as Team JNPR or even a member of the Team RWBY. That had held true so far through the evening, and they'd been there for a few hours now.

"We really should do this more often," Nora let out, saying what everyone was thinking – or really, what the four of them had come there to say. They hadn't exactly planned on saying it so explicitly, but Jaune was dense sometimes, so no one really questioned Nora's need to hammer the point home. The way she cut her eyes at Jaune made it clear to even him that Nora was not planning on being subtle. "Why is this the first time we've seen Jaune in years again?"

The other three's eyes all nervously shifted to Jaune. That nervousness melted away upon seeing Jaune roll his eyes at Nora's comment.

"Wow, took you long enough," Jaune sniped sarcastically, basically confirming that he'd been expecting this at some point. Nora's ire wasn't exactly unearned – fact of the matter was that they were 21 when they marched on the Grimmlands, and they were 31 now. It had been years since any of them had seen Jaune, but that wasn't entirely his fault. Ruby deserved just as much blame for running Jaune off as he deserved for running. "Things have just been busy, Nora."

It sounded like a cop out answer, and, well, yeah, it kinda was.

Ren came to Jaune's defense, though. "Even with the Grimm threat so neutered, Kuroyuri has only stabilized recently. When we first resettled it, Nora and I wouldn't have been able to afford to leave, even for a day or two."

"And how's that going, by the way?" Jaune asked his old teammates. He seemed genuinely curious, and Sun figured that the guy wasn't trying to dodge the question so much as he was a pint or two in and his thoughts were criss-crossing a little. He didn't know it, but no one here was going to let the subject get away.

"Kuroyuri? Things are good," Ren answered. "Just some bandits nearby last month, but nothing we couldn't handle."

"More remnants of Raven's tribe?" Blake piped up, leaning forward in her chair and leaving Sun's arm to rest on it. If that hadn't given away her curiosity, the way her ears pointed straight up did. She would kill him if he called her out on it.

Sun was totally about to call her out on it.

"No, nothing quite so organized," Ren answered seriously. Blake deflated a little, but that was more because it meant that she still didn't have a lead on Branwen's location. No one did. If pressed, though, she'd admit that the bandits not being dangerous was a good thing, even if she felt disappointed. "It's been years since we've encountered any of her old people. Wherever she is, she's not making more disciples, which is good."

Ren and Blake shared a tense look, before Blake finally settled back down. Ren gave her a firm nod to reassure her. If Ren said Branwen wasn't in Mistral, then Branwen wasn't in Mistral, simple as that. That was like half of the reason that Kuroyuri 2.0 was even a thing. Sure, after the ass-kicking that they'd given Salem, the world would have at least a century before she even woke up, and sure, this meant that all kingdoms were now trying to expand into new settlements like crazy, but that didn't mean you wanted to rebuild a failed settlement. That was bad karma or something. The only reason the Kuroyuri Project was ever green-lit was because Ren and Nora lent their personas to support the project - as two of the heroes who marched on Salem's doorstep, they were recognized across all of Remnant. The real reason Kuroyuri was approved was because it's an unofficially sanctioned base of operations to hunt for the Spring Maiden.

Clearing what few Grimm were active after Salem's defeat was Nora's job as Head of Firepower and Defense, and hunting down bandits to try to find Raven Branwen was Ren's job as Head of Security. And both of them had gotten so good at their jobs that there wasn't anything left to do for the past two years, which is how their newborn daughter was conceived – or that's how Nora explained it earlier. Pyrrha Valkyrie Ren was back in Kuroyuri with a babysitter for the day.

"Pffft," Jaune cut into the silence shortly after. "I still can't believe that someone as stuck up as Raven Branwen has kept herself hidden for all these years."

"Yeah, well, she's not the only one," Blake called out, giving Jaune a flat look.

"I haven't been hidden!" Jaune protested with a grin. A chagrinned grin, but a grin.

"It's been a few years since any of us have seen you," Ren jumped in from Jaune's other side. Honestly, Sun hadn't seen Jaune in person since the last medal ceremony for saving the world, which was probably eight or nine years ago now.

For a moment, it looked like Jaune was going to get real defensive about being attacked from both sides, but he shrugged it off. It was all good-natured, he could tell. He probably didn't even disagree that it had been too long.

"I've been busy running a whole military base," Jaune let out, gesturing loosely to the giant boot-shaped island in Argus' harbor. "Argus is Mistral's fastest-growing city and has been expanding outwards rapidly; that keeps us busy. And then there was the process of legally transferring the base from Atlas to Argus control, which was a nightmare – I had to run for mayor and—"

"You ran for mayor?" Sun let out, beating everyone to the punch.

Jaune froze. It was the reaction of someone who was guilty of something and had just been caught red-handed, probably that he didn't want them to know he ran for mayor. The afternoon had just gotten weird.

"T-That's a long story," Jaune tried to dismiss. "Maybe some other time."

"Jaune," Nora's voice sounded off dangerously, as her hand reached around Ren to clamp down firmly on Jaune's shoulder. The poor guy went stiff as Nora tried to snap his collarbone with her grip.

"A-Actually it's not that long, I think I can tell it." Jaune corrected himself. "It's all Weiss' fault. She's the one that wanted Atlas to turn over the base here to Argus, but the mayor wouldn't agree to it for some reason. And since I'm famous for tagging along while Team RWBY kicked ass, Weiss made me announce my candidacy around the sole promise that I would accept the new Argus base."

Everyone stared blankly at him. No one really quite believed that Jaune Arc had ran for mayor. But they all would absolutely believe that Weiss Schnee would try to oust a mayor as a power play, if she really wanted to. What did Weiss care if Atlas gave away this base or not?

"Did you win?" Nora asked seriously.

"Nah," Jaune dismissed casually. His cheeks were still red out of embarrassment though, no matter how much he tried to hide them behind his pint glass. "Didn't have to, and I sure didn't want to be mayor. We just had to make it a credible threat so that the mayor would cave. And he did."

"You threatened a mayor?" Ren asked strangely.

"Weiss politically threatened a mayor," Jaune corrected. "It was in Argus' best interest anyways. Don't read too much into it."

"Don't read too much into Weiss really leaning into her role as the CEO of the SDC," Blake drawled. "Sure thing."

"Hey now, Weiss is nothing like her father," Jaune cut back aggressively. "Or, well, she's all the viciousness of Jacque Schnee but with all the morals of the Weiss we all know and love. Just because she's gotten good at her new job doesn't mean that she's any less the snowangel that we all know and trust."

Blake rolled her eyes at the word 'snowangel' and placated Jaune to show him there was nothing to her words. "I know. It's just fun to tease her about it sometimes."

"And she's not doing it alone, either," Jaune continued, defending Weiss more than was necessary. "She's got Winter there with her, so even if she did go to far, Winter would pull her back."

"Trust me, Blake and I know super well that Weiss is a lot different than her dad," Sun let out to help smooth things over. He wasn't making anything up, either; Weiss was insistent that she support all of her friends, and even after restructuring the SDC, she had plenty of lien to do it with. "I swear she offers to make Blake the head of a department like every other week."

A few mumbled agreements from Ren and Nora made it clear that this wasn't exclusive to them.

"Yeah, she's like that a lot," Jaune added on, making it the entire table that Weiss had try to set up with cushy jobs. It was hard to get mad at Weiss wanting to give them all way too much money, but it was still annoying. "I honestly think she might have pulled the stunt with the Argus base to try to buy it for herself and force me to work for her."

"I'm sorry, are we going to skip over the fact that we haven't talked to Jaune in years and yet apparently he and Weiss are going around toppling town governments?" Nora asked loudly.

"Hey, I'm still in our group texts!" Jaune protested lightly. "I haven't just dropped off the face of Remnant or anything…"

"You're not very active in them," Blake joined in. For a split moment, Jaune's eyes cut to her, taking note that she had joined Nora and Ren's side. He relaxed his expression instantly, but Sun had still seen that split second where Jaune looked like he was sizing up a fight.

"I still send memes in them occasionally," Jaune mumbled guiltily. That was both true and annoying. Everyone else used the group chats to keep up with each other and discuss life; Jaune and Yang cluttered that with just some of the stupidest things Sun had ever seen. That photo of Salem photoshopped to have just a massive ass with the caption "bout to plunge into that Pool of Darkness, wish me luck bois" still haunted him. "What can I say, Weiss and I are still good friends."

"That is my point!" Nora let out, slapping down on the table and frightening Jaune. "Why aren't we good friends?!"

"That's not what I meant, Nora," Jaune cut back. He sounded a little hurt by the accusation. "You know that."

"It's been years, Jaune," Nora pouted. "Maybe I've forgotten."

"Alright, that's enough, Nora," Ren cut in. "We didn't come here to make things worse."

One glance at Jaune showed that he had gotten a little defensive, despite his best efforts to let Nora's words roll off him. He tried to present himself as being relaxed, but his back was a little too stiff. He awkwardly fidgeted his hands, idly playing with the fourth finger on his left hand.

"Nora's fine," Jaune dismissed, trying to play it off like it didn't bother him. No one called him out on it, but Sun did feel a little bad for the guy. He probably did have a reason that he hadn't visited his old team, or just a million little reasons, and Jaune did have a point in that it wasn't like they couldn't contact him. The effort had just fallen off on both sides, yet they were all blaming him. "She's not wrong. It's been ages since I've seen you guys. I wish I could post leave for a weekend and come visit."

"You can't even leave for a weekend?" Blake asked, surprised. "Don't you have other huntsmen working for you?"

"Oh I do. That's the reason I can't leave. The moment I turn my back, they'll burn the base down," Jaune let out with a laugh. "Actually, you guys remember Team CRDL, right?"

"WHAT?!" Nora's hands slammed down on the table as she jumped out of her seat.

Jaune just grinned at her.

"You hired your old bullies to work for you?" Blake asked tentatively, not caring in the slightest to sugarcoat things.

"My man!" Sun let out, reaching across the table to offer Jaune a fist bump. Slightly confused as to why, Jaune accepted it. "What a power move!"

Jaune rolled his eyes once he realized Sun's joke. "They're not terrible guys anymore. Pretty decent, actually; Beacon burning to the ground around them kinda sobered them up."

Blake's ear twitched slightly. Sun knew that she had probably ranted to him about this Team CRDL at some point in their past, but he didn't feel exactly confident in his ability to recall details – because he probably wasn't really listening at the time – so he hoped that this topic would die down soon. That ear twitch probably meant something, though.

"I mean it, they're fine now," Jaune doubled down while looking directly at Blake. Sun hadn't been the only one to catch that ear twitch. "I certainly give them enough grief to make up for it, though. No way in hell I'm trusting them to run an entire military base for even a day."

Nora grumbled something about Jaune and excuses, but no one really disbelieved Jaune when he said that CRDL couldn't do Jaune's job. In the brief silence that followed, the waitress that had been standing off in the distance awkwardly finally made her way over.

"Is everybody doing alright over here?" a young blonde woman in her early twenties asked the group. Sun knew he was getting old because this woman was probably 22 and she looked like a kid to him.

"Oh, we're fine, Rebecca," Jaune answered casually, greeting the woman with a laidback smile. His eyes shifted over to Nora. "Some of us are a little excitable. I promise we'll tone down on destroying your tables."

Nora's jaw dropped indignantly, earning chuckles from the rest of the table.

Incredibly, this waitress took Jaune at face value and cut her eyes at Nora too. There was no way that this woman didn't recognize at least one of the members of the group as famous huntsmen and huntresses – the only two more famous than them were Yang and Ruby, really – so she had to have known how dangerous it was to look at Nora as if she were a rowdy child.

"Well, if there's anything I can do for you guys, just let me know," the waitress responded politely, though the way she kept cutting her eyes at Nora undermined it.

"What just happened?" Sun asked, a goofy grin starting to take over his face as he decided whether laughing at the look on Nora's face was worth risking his life.

"Great service here, huh?" Jaune asked, pretending to be oblivious to the peril he was in. "I'm a regular, so the staff aren't all that starstruck by you guys. Rebecca is actually one of the sassiest people I've ever met. I always make sure to tip her extra because I know that, with that attitude, no one else will…"

Blake perked up; Sun could feel it in her body language as she shifted beside him. Nora had, too, locking eyes with Blake for a split-second. They both saw the opportunity to bring up what they'd come here for. Poor, poor Jaune.

"Rebecca, huh?" Blake asked, with just a hint of suggestiveness in her voice.

"She's cute," Nora added on, with zero subtlety. "Nice tits, too."

Jaune caught on immediately and gave Nora a flat look. "She's too young for me, Nora."

"Dude, that is the wrong attitude," Sun chimed in. "There really is no such thing as a hot chick that's too young for you – a-as long as it's legal!" Sun rushed to put that last part in as he could feel Blake's eyes burning into his side. He might be in hot water for saying it at all, but he was betting on his fiancé getting too distracted to remember to be mad at him.

"That's easy for you to say," Jaune dismissed, shooting Sun a look. "Not all of us have a fan club for our abs."

Heh. He'd forgot about that. Sun shrugged. That was a good point.

"Oh, please, like you would go home alone if you ever tried spending a night out," Nora drawled, waving off Jaune's words as just whining. "You're tall, not nearly as noodley as you used to be, run your own military base—"

"You ran for mayor," Sun chimed in.

"—You ran for mayor," Nora repeated to drive the point home, "and oh yeah, you're one of the most famous war heroes on Remnant!"

"You're exaggerating my contributions and you know it, Nora," Jaune responded a bit harshly. It felt like a bit of the air was sucked out of the room. They all remembered the day that Ruby had gone off on Jaune about this. The fact that he was bringing it up – and agreeing with Ruby's points? – made things tense. "I was just an Aura battery for you guys. The most helpful thing I did was not get in the way."

Sun's eyes met Ren's, the two men trying to figure out how they were supposed to respond to that. It was no secret that Jaune had never truly felt he'd belonged on the stage they'd all been elevated to, but they had all reassured him for years that he did. Hell, Sun kinda felt like a tag-along to Team RWBY's quest too, but it never bothered him the way that it obviously used to eat away at Jaune.

But only Ruby had ever told Jaune that he wasn't good enough, and she had done it in front of all of them; it had been the first and last time that Sun had ever seen Ruby try to hurt someone.

It worked, that was for certain. The fact that they hadn't really seen Jaune since spoke to that. It didn't matter that Ruby had been grieving the loss of her uncle at the time – Sun was in the camp that Ruby had gone too far.

The solution to this topic turned out to be avoiding it. They'd come out here – well, Sun and Ren had gotten dragged along – to address one problem with Jaune. No reason to get greedy and try to solve all of them.

"So?" Blake asked, challengingly. Jaune's eyes met hers and something unspoken passed between them. Jaune was a little surprised, which Blake pounced on. "The only people who know enough to not to be impressed by your fame are also the only people you're probably not going to try to hit on: us. All any girl you meet at a bar is going to know is that you are a world-famous badass Huntsman war hero."

"Trust me, dude, you have no idea just how awesome of a pick-up line that is!" Sun let out in an excited burst. "You're probably Remnant's hottest bachelor. Even mentioning how you marched on the Grimm Queen's fortress drops panties. Plural."

Everyone looked at Sun funny for a moment.

"Like, enough panties that you might start tripping over them."

"How would…" Ren started to ask, his eyes cautiously shifting from Sun over to his fiancée, before back to Sun. "…you know that?"

Sun coughed into his fist and made a point of taking a drink and not answering that. He wasn't stupid. He could feel Blake tense up next to him, but she and Yang had been dating back then, and a single war hero like Sun was entitled to putting as many notches in his bedpost as he felt like.

He didn't miss being single, and his current sex life was just as good as his previous one, but that didn't mean he regretted any of it. Sun's Vacuoan, after all; it's in his blood.

"Did you guys come all the way out to Argus just to try to get me laid or something?" Jaune asked with a laugh, providing Sun with a much-needed reprieve from being the center of attention.

"Ugh, if only it was that easy," Nora let out in a huff. From the look of surprise on Jaune's face, he hadn't expecting the answer to be yes. "You're just so gloomy sometimes. Honestly, I have half a mind to tie you to a bed and break the springs myself if it would snap you out of it."

Sun couldn't tell if Jaune knew that Nora was messing with him, which made it even funnier as both he and Blake tried to hide their smirks.

Jaune looked to Ren and silently pleaded for him to help.

"Don't look at me," Ren replied verbally. "I'm not going to do that for you."

Jaune let out a disgruntled sign and dropped his face into his hands. "I hate you all."

"Dude, it's been almost a decade since we beat Salem. Have you been with anyone in that whole time?"

"Yes, Sun, I actually have! Jeez," Jaune let out. Sun would have thought that Jaune was actually upset about being pressed like this if Jaune wasn't beginning to blush. Poor guy never grew out of some of that awkwardness.

"Really?" Ren asked, maybe not disbelieving Jaune, but very clearly being skeptical.

"Yes!"

"Well great!" Nora almost shouted. "Now that that part's over, we can figure out how to get you into an actual relationship!"

"Nora," Jaune whined, dropping his forehead into his hand. "I don't need your help finding a girlfriend," Jaune spoke slowly to emphasize how silly it was that he even had to say that. They were 31 and this conversation could have been had when they were 17.

"Why not?" she challenged right back in his face. "You're clearly not finding one on your own."

That was a little more direct and harsher than Sun had thought they were going to be, but he trusted that Nora knew what she was doing. Or, uh, that Jaune was just used to Nora being Nora and would let that slide.

Jaune looked to be struggling to come up with a good way to get out of the spotlight, as the poor guy's face was growing slightly redder by the second. And that wasn't even going to be the worst of it, though Jaune didn't know that yet. "I don't want you guys to feel like you have to try to find someone for me. I appreciate the gesture, guys, really, but—"

"What if we already have someone in mind?" Blake cut him off.

Jaune stopped mid-sentence and stared at her for a few moments as he finally realized the real reason that we'd all made the trip out here. He blinked blankly at Blake a few times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating and glanced around at the rest of them to confirm that, yes, they really did fly all the way out there to talk Jaune into a blind date.

"I don't even know why I'm surprised," Jaune let out, reaching out to grab his drink before slumping back into his chair. Despite himself, a tiny smile formed on Jaune's face. He clearly missed this team dynamic, even if it was designed to humiliate him at the moment. "Okay, fine, go ahead; I'll hear you out. Who do you have in mind?"

Jaune took a sip as soon as he finished speaking, using the mug to hide his red face a little bit.

"Yang."

Beer spilt onto Jaune's shirt as he choked on his drink.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Jaune drawled, still sputtering from his spit-take, "that won't be setting me up for failure or anything."

"Have a little faith in yourself," Sun chimed in.

"I will have an appropriate amount of faith in myself, thank you," Jaune sassed back, earning a pronounced eye-roll from Nora for his dramatics. "I was prepared for you to say something crazy that at least made a little sense, like Weiss. At least we're close, even if she's too focused on her work. Where the hell did you get the idea to say Yang?"

"Hey, it could work!" Nora protested.

"Nora, Yang is the single biggest celebrity on Remnant," Jaune countered. Which was true. Ever since Ruby went public with the whole Salem story, they had needed to really capture the public eye, and Yang was born for that sort of spotlight. Ruby was the face of the team that beat Salem, but Yang was the personality that stuck out. Now, she ran around Remnant doing all sorts of advertising gigs, talk shows, interviews, promotions, you name it. Hell, when the kingdoms agreed that they needed to encourage more babies being born, Yang made some serious lien being the face of a 'go have more sex' campaign – something Sun thought Yang would have done for free. Allegedly, she had posed mostly nude in a spread for that campaign, but Sun would never admit to having seen those pictures. Not that he needed to. "She gets paid to travel around Remnant and be popular. Yang has been voted Remnant's hottest Huntress five years running now!"

And it would be eight years running if Weiss hadn't campaigned so hard for Winter that one year. Yang was still a little pissed about that.

Sun elbowed Blake in the side playfully, earning a low growl from his fiancée. The highest that she had ever peaked at was #2 – to Yang – and that had mostly been because the tabloids found out that Yang and Blake were a couple at the time. If a busty blonde badass bad girl Huntress captivated the minds of Remnant's male population, then a busty blonde badass bad-girl Huntresses having sex with another badass Huntress who was also a catgirl blew those minds.

"If Yang wants a good time, she can go anywhere and get anything she wants. How am I supposed to compete with that, Nora?"

"…you look like Tai. Maybe she has a daddy kink?" Nora answered with a shrug. She cut her eyes over to her own husband. "I know I do."

Sun tried to wipe that image from his mind, but was too slow.

"What the fuck, Nora?" Jaune let out in an exasperated huff. He seemed to be in a similar state as Sun. "I'm serious, how the hell do you think this will go?"

"Jaune," Blake called out forcefully, getting tired of this dragging on. She had to repeat his name even more forcefully before he finally looked up at her with a serious expression. "It could work."

Jaune hitched, and a little bit of uncertainty flashed on his face. If anyone here knew Yang, it would be Blake.

"Isn't she your ex?" Jaune asked Blake sincerely, not just trying to change topics. There was a slight edge to Jaune's voice, but that was just him being defensive about this whole thing.

"I-I mean, technically, yes," Blake answered a little bit awkwardly. Her cheeks actually began to heat up a little, and Sun grinned at that. "Yang and I broke up because we wanted different things. I wanted to slow down and avoid the spotlight, and Yang… wanted the opposite. That was the whole reason. We didn't stop dating as much as we downgraded to…"

"Partners with benefits?" Nora asked suggestively, waggling an eyebrow at Blake.

The look on Jaune's face was priceless.

"Y-Yeah," Blake mumbled. She was doing her best to own it and not get embarrassed, but Nora was making that hard. "Yeah, that's a good way to describe it. We've done that off and on for a few years now."

Sun could see the gears turn in Jaune's head as he thought about that, before looking to Sun in confusion. Sun and Blake had been engaged for half a year now and dated for over one before that.

Sun gave Jaune a slow, subtle nod to let him know what was up. He topped it off with a wink for good measure.

Jaune's mouth went agape.

"I… I feel like I need to shake your hand, Sun," was all Jaune could find the words to say.

"S-So yeah," Blake coughed to get their attention. She was pretty red in the face by this point. "Yang and I are still close—"

Nora sniggered, which made Blake hitch as she cut her eyes at her.

"—enough for me to know that this could work."

Oh, right, they had been talking about setting Yang and Jaune up. Sun had gotten distracted with a few memories there for a second. Whipped cream, collars, blonde hair, and kitty ears all flashed in Sun's mind. Gods, as much as Sun hoped that this whole plan to set Jaune and Yang up would make them happy, he was really going to miss threesomes with objectively Remnant's two hottest Huntresses. He knew that Blake had warned him that once they were officially married the threesomes would stop permanently – and what the hell kind of incentive to get married was that? – but still he felt a little regret over ending it before it was absolutely required.

Oh well. Jaune was going to owe him big time for this.

Jaune sat there, struggling to form words for a few moments as his mind was being pulled in so many different directions right now. "How would… that even work?"

"Yang is…" Blake took her time with her words, speaking carefully. "…having a change of priorities. She's done the 'travel the world' thing for years now. It finally hit her that she's in her thirties now and she doesn't have much to show for it."

Jaune wasn't stupid. "Yang is ready to settle down?"

Blake nodded. "Honestly, if this had happened a few years sooner, I'd be wearing a different ring…"

"Hey!" Sun protested jokingly. He knew Blake didn't mean anything by it, mostly because that was his joke she just stole.

"So Yang is ready to retire from excitement and have a boring life, so you naturally chose me?" Jaune asked sarcastically, with a smile returning to his face.

Nora giggled ominously, which did not go unnoticed by Jaune. He looked around for an explanation, settling on staring down Blake with a little bit of concern showing.

"That's not exactly why we chose you. You two do have history together as comrades, we already mentioned that you have the same taste in stupid memes, and it's not like you guys don't get along. Those are good places to start too."

"But?"

"But…" Blake trailed off. "Yang…"

"She's baby crazy," Nora cut in, unable to wait any longer.

Jaune looked at Nora like she grew a third eye. It wasn't until he noticed that Blake wasn't correcting her that his expression changed to one of shock.

"Yang?" he asked incredulously. "…wants kids?"

"Is that so crazy?" Ren asked, lending his whole 'voice of reason' thing to the situation. "Nora and I are trying for our second one now. Sun and Blake have started talking about it too."

Jaune's eyes whipped to Sun, more surprised than anything.

"Hey, we're planning on waiting till after the wedding, but…" he shrugged. If that motivated his fiancée to up their weekly quota, he wasn't going to say anything. "If an accident happens before then, we're not going to complain."

"All Yang sees are her closest friends settling down and trying to have families, while she's alone on the road," Ren finished his thought.

"Plus, she had a bit of a crisis about it," Blake added on coyly. "She told me that she can't ever truly outdo her mother until she has a kid of her own."

"Yang wants to be a mom just to spite her mother?" Jaune asked, before quickly changing his tune. "Actually, that makes sense. I'm with her on that one. Anything to spite that bitch is a good idea in my book."

Jaune got a couple of funny looks at that – not because he didn't like Raven, because they all didn't. It was just odd how strongly he apparently felt about the issue.

And he doubled down on it.

"I do admire how Yang handled the situation with her mother, though."

That got even more confusion from the group, because—

"Yang put a personal bounty out on her mother," Blake cut in. "She says that she'll keep it up until someone finally finds what rock Raven's hiding under."

"Good," Jaune spat out, before finally backing down under the weird looks he was getting. "Sorry. Just thinking about that woman abandoning Yang as a child infuriates me."

Jaune idly played with that ring finger again, which only Sun really noticed, and even then only because Sun had been playing with the ring on his own finger at the same time. It struck Sun odd that Jaune did the same thing, but didn't have a ring.

"That's part of why we think you two could work. You getting so worked up over that tells me you'd be a pretty good father," Ren jumped in. As the only father in the group – and even then, only a father of a year so far – Ren's recommendation carried the most weight. "That, and we've seen you with your nephew. You're a natural with kids in the way that all future great dads are."

"I'm not sure that's a complement…?"

"It is," Blake jumped in reassuringly, noticing that Jaune was starting to push back just a little.

"You've always wanted to protect us because we're your family," Nora added on in a much more serious tone than Sun was aware she could talk with. "You can't tell me that you wouldn't be awesome with your own family now."

"I…" Jaune couldn't find the words to say. He was awkward, sure, but there was something else in his eyes that Sun couldn't quite place. This was a bit more than just him being put on the spot.

Jaune shifted around in his seat a little, before picking up his glass to take a drink. As his fingers curled around the handle, Sun's eyes went wide.

There was a tan line on Jaune's ring finger where he had been playing with a non-existent ring. As if, until recently, he had a ring there.

Suddenly, that look in Jaune's eye made sense: panic. Fear, even.

"We're not going to force you into it or anything," Sun reassured, trying to gauge where Jaune's head was at with this new information. Had Jaune been married and divorced without them knowing? If that was true, Sun could understand Jaune's hesitance to open up or look for something new. He felt bad that they were doing this to Jaune now.

"I mean, if you guys really think it will work, I can at least try," Jaune let out, giving in to the pressure. Sun wasn't convinced from the way Jaune said it that his heart would really be in it, though. It sounded like he was just getting them off his back, but Sun guessed that the guy deserved that, so he kept his mouth shut. He was confused. "Funny enough, Yang's actually going to be here Monday. I hired her to put my men through some drills and test our defenses. If you think you can somehow convince her to go out with me while she's here, then go for it."

Jaune grinned a little bit, thinking that he had them beat with how short of a timeline they had. Once again, Nora's snigger began to tip him off that something was up.

"…that's the thing…"

"What's the thing, Blake?"

"We actually talked with Yang about this first," Blake answered a little awkwardly, "and let's just say that we came out here to warn you ahead of time."

"Warn me?" Jaune's voice hitched.

"Does the term 'high impact sexual violence' mean anything to you?" Nora asked, leering at him. "Because it's about to."

"I'm sorry, I swear that I heard that wrong."

"Yang is already on board with the idea," Sun warned Jaune. "We figured that you needed to know that ahead of time. I don't think that she's planning to be subtle."

"Pffft, more like she might try to impregnate herself on the first date," Nora let out with a childish giggle. She was loving this. "Before dinner."

"Nora."

Jaune shook his head in disbelief, not really sure what to make of any of that. He was pretty sure that Nora was kidding.

At least, until he made eye contact with Blake, who shrugged awkwardly. "She really is baby crazy, Jaune."

Jaune stared at her blankly.

"You really think that Yang is going to try to get me to knock her up so that she can trap me in a family…?"

"No, she wouldn't do anything so manipulative. She's not her mother," Blake countered.

"I never would have implied that," Jaune answered firmly.

"This is still Yang were talking about. She's not going to just settle right into popping out kids immediately. There would still be time to date and mess around. It's just…" Blake paused for a moment, making sure she had the right thing to say. A little bit of color returned to her cheeks. "Yang's a celebrity. We're all celebrities. That makes dating hard, and Yang has it made up in her mind that of her limited dating pool, you're the first choice, and she's not planning on letting that slip away. And trust me, Yang knows how to make you beg for more."

Again, the look on Jaune's face was priceless. He looked over to Sun for a second opinion.

The monkey Faunus just winked at Jaune again.

Jaune held his temple in his hands, trying to process what was going on. "You know, maybe this is why I don't come visit."

* * *

Jaune hated mornings. Nothing good ever happened in the morning. No one ever went out to get drinks in the morning, they never got laid in the morning – or at least he didn't – and they never got to take a nap in the morning. Those were three of Jaune's favorite things and they didn't happen in the morning, not to mention that you're just so tired in the morning. He'd have thought that after years of being a Huntsman, he'd have gotten over feeling lousy if he got up before 9 am, but nope. Idly, Jaune wondered if their attack on Salem would have failed if they hadn't attacked in the afternoon. He bet it would have.

And it didn't help that everyone else didn't seem to be suffering as much as he was. Everyone he passed on his walk to his office were all cheery, making sure to greet him with "Morning sir!" or "Good morning, boss!" It was infuriating. It was not a good morning; there was no such thing as a good morning. All these military types that he associated with were used to being up and working far earlier than 8 am – sorry, you have to say 0800 or they 'didn't understand' what you meant, the jackasses. The only thing that kept the people he passed by from laughing at how dead to the world Jaune looked was that he would personally oversee their training that day if he caught them.

Whatever, he made it to his office. His automatic coffee machine was pouring his drink as he walked in. It was on a timer, had its own reserves of ground coffee that would last for a week, and ran on Wi-Fi so that whenever Jaune's scroll came within 50 feet for the first time each day, it began pouring his coffee. The only thing it couldn't do was saturate the drink with sugar, which was the only way Jaune could force himself to drink the stuff. Jaune hated coffee, but gods did he need the energy boost it gave him.

Jaune had barely made it into his chair when his office door opened.

"So, how'd your weekend go?" Cardin Winchester asked, pretending like he had no clue what Jaune had to deal with that Saturday.

"It was fine," Jaune mumbled, staring at the coffee in his hands and wondering if it was worth the hit to his Aura to drink the stuff while it was still nearly boiling.

"Everything go well with your old teammates?" Cardin asked, with a layer of seriousness hiding underneath that stupid chipper tone he put on because he knew how much Jaune hated being awake this early. "Anything we need to worry about?"

"Mmmm," Jaune hummed noncommittally as he scalded the inside of his mouth. Aura flooded in to relieve the pain. He did this every morning, and part of himself wondering if the pain helped wake him up. The other part just wondered why he didn't set his coffee machine to make the drink earlier so it could cool before he got there. "I'm not awake enough for this yet. Give me a status update first, then I'll tell you how it went."

Cardin rolled his eyes but complied. This was pretty routine, honestly. He looked down at the report he had printed out earlier and began to summarize it.

"Dust stores look fine. As far as funding goes, we're still under the budget, despite Sky's… incident last week."

"Fucking dumbass," Jaune growled under his breath. "How do you forget to close the door to the industrial-sized freezer in the barracks' kitchen? It weighs like ten pounds."

"I still want to know how long he's been stealing snacks like that," Cardin added on. "We should make a rule about that."

"Already working on it," Jaune replied, shaking his mouse to knock his computer screen out of screensaver mode. Jaune never deleted a browser or window until he was ready to never see it ever again, so after a few seconds he found the draft of the order he'd been working on. "I think I'll just keep it simple. Anyone caught stealing food has to fight me."

Cardin shrugged. He'd only been on the receiving end of that once, but that was enough. Jaune fought dirty as hell.

"As far as personnel, it looks like you were right: no one requested any of their leave for this week," Cardin continued.

"Of course not," Jaune commented, enjoying his vindication for that prediction. "We run a base full of soldiers, and the hottest woman on Remnant is coming to visit."

"If a nice pair of tits is all it takes to motivate the men to come to work, maybe we should invest in more…"

"Are you suggesting we hire more female combat instructors, or some strippers?" Jaune asked, eyeing Cardin suspiciously. "And before you answer that, I'll remind you that you're married."

"…both?"

"Just finish the report," Jaune grumbled, diving back into his coffee.

"As of five minutes ago, Xiao Long is on schedule to land in the airfield at 0830."

"What was that?" Jaune asked, shooting Cardin a glare.

Cardin sighed, annoyed. "8:30 am."

"Hmmm?"

"8:30 am, sir," Cardin elaborated, sounding like a teenager who was being harassed by their father to be respectful. "Asshole."

"Good enough," Jaune smirked, feeling just enough coffee in his system to be able to smirk up at Cardin.

"Her Bullhead will land at 8:30, and it looks like you're already scheduled to give an all-hands address at 9 am?" Cardin's voice change from declarative to imperative as he read the schedule.

"Yeah, that was me," Jaune confirmed. "I'm planning on introducing Yang to the guys. Figure I'll let her spar someone in front of them to show them – for their sake – that she shouldn't be messed with."

"I feel bad for the bastard who gets called up for that."

Jaune made a show of drinking from his mug, despite it being empty. Cardin caught on quickly.

"What did I do wrong?"

"Yang requested you."

"Fuck."

"Indeed," Jaune said absentmindedly. "Anything else on the report?"

"Nothing worth noting," Cardin responded, flipping over the sheet just in case. "So, how'd the weekend go?"

"Walk with me," Jaune replied instead, rising from his chair and motioning for Cardin to follow him out the door. It was close enough to time for Yang's bullhead to land, so they were heading to the airstrip. "It was strange."

Cardin looked at Jaune funny at that single descriptor.

"I enjoyed it a lot. Still miss those guys. Ren and Nora have a kid now," Jaune started, before realizing that Cardin didn't really care about those details. "They were obviously a little upset that they hadn't seen me in years."

"What'd you tell them?" Cardin asked gravely.

"Nothing," Jaune replied easily, enjoying the confusion on Cardin's face. "I didn't have to come up with an excuse. They were after something else."

Cardin's head whipped out across the airfield, towards the dead center of the military complex, to the maximum-security section. "They know about the…?"

"No, they don't know about Creation, not that it would concern me too much if they found out. I trust they could be convinced not to tell Oz," Jaune reassured Cardin, who wasn't too convinced about that last point. Jaune might not have been able to convince them, but Weiss sure as hell would if he failed.

"What, then?"

"They… are trying to set me up on a date," Jaune explained with a silly grin. "Yeah, I know, and we were all so worried when they said they were coming to visit."

"Wow," Cardin let out with a laugh. "That's just funny. They have no idea, do they?"

"Nope. And they're not any closer than they were," Jaune confirmed. "That's not even the best part."

"What is it?"

"According to Blake and Nora, Yang has her eye on me. They came to warn me that Yang might make it her mission while she's here to bang me." Well, they had said that Yang was looking to settle down, but they very heavily implied that she was prepared to bang me into submission.

"Bullshit."

"That's what I said," Jaune laughed. "They were adamant about it. I told them that I would do my due diligence and take Yang out to dinner – which I would have done anyway as professional courtesy for coming here and kicking your asses."

Off in the distance, a blip appeared on the horizon, that slowly grew into the shape of a Bullhead.

"You know this doesn't end well for you, right?" Cardin asked.

"I'm sure Nora was exaggerating about just how forceful Yang's gonna be." Or just how desperate she really is, for that matter. "I'll be fine. We'll go to dinner, and after spending an hour with me, she realize that she's the least turned-on she's ever been in her life, and I'll escape anything awkward happening."

"Uh huh."

The Bullhead flew closer. Jaune didn't appreciate the lack of confidence from his second-in-command.

"I'm going to go do anything else but be here when she lands," Cardin announced, picking up his mace and walking off.

"Yeah, you do that," Jaune called back, rolling his eyes. He'd thought about calling Cardin a coward for avoiding Yang like this, but Jaune had to admit that there was no flaw in Cardin's logic.

The Bullhead took another minute to land, and when it did, Yang strutted out the back like she owned the place, rocking her own personal brand of aviators.

Immediately, Jaune noticed something was up. Yang looked fantastic, far more so than anyone coming to be a combat consultant would. Instead of her normal long-tailed combat jacket, she wore a shorter black leather jacket that looked like it wasn't big enough to even be zipped up. That looked like the point, because the low-cropped orange tee with her logo on it that Yang wore was both tight-fitting and also made her tits look even larger than usual. I swear, has Yang ever heard of a sports' bra? Below that – and it was harder than Jaune would have liked to admit to move his eyes any further down – Yang wasn't wearing combat pants like when he'd last seen her, but had gone back to the short-shorts she wore at Beacon. That left a lot of skin exposed, starting with the lower 60% of her thighs and not stopping till you got to the combat boots, which went up just past her ankles. And from the labels he recognized, everything Yang was wearing was top of the line designer fashion for Huntresses, and probably cost as much as his whole wardrobe.

And she was grinning at him as she watched him look her up and down.

"Eh, I've seen better," Jaune called out antagonistically, knowing that trying to deny that he was looking was stupid.

"I seriously doubt that," Yang let back, still grinning, as she stopped a few feet in front of him. She looked him up and down deliberately, making no attempt to hide her returning the favor. Jaune wore a white Atlas officer's coat – though since Argus' base wasn't under Atlas control, that was for style more than anything. He left it unbuttoned, allowing it to partially conceal Crocea Mors at his waist. Beneath that, he wore a tight blue muscle shirt that matched his eyes, with a V-neck just deep enough to let Jaune's chest breath – and he caught Yang's eyes linger there approvingly. That tucked into black combat pants which in turn were tucked into combat boots like Yang wore, except probably half as expensive. All told, he looked pretty good, though he wasn't the one to have come up with the outfit. "Not bad, for a noodle. Just don't throw up on my shoes."

"Ha. Ha," Jaune drawled. They remained in a silent stand-off as they stared each other down, with Yang sporting a smile that made Jaune just a little nervous as she watched him from just over the rim of her aviators. She looked like a cat watching a mouse play, just waiting for the right moment to pounce.

Blake… may not have been wrong.

After a few seconds, they each laughed off their silly fake standoff and embraced, with Yang making no effort to angle in from the side and instead pushing her chest right up against his.

"How've you been?" Jaune asked while they hugged.

"Save the pillow talk for later," Yang teased, earning an eye-roll from Jaune.

"Fine," Jaune huffed. "We'll catch up over dinner tonight. Sound good?"

Jaune felt something weird on the side of his neck. Something hot and wet, but that was all he could tell before a shiver worked its way down his spine. Honestly, his first instinct was wondering if he'd been shot and that was blood trickling down.

"Sounds delightful," Yang purred playfully in his ear, before abruptly pulling away from the hug. "Are those the boys I get to play with?" she asked, motioning behind her to where some of the men had begun to gather for the all-hands meeting.

"Uh… yeah, that's them."

"Well let's go," Yang said, with a playful cadence in her voice that made Jaune uneasy. She took off walking ahead of him, and Jaune could have sworn that she was trying to dislocate her hip with how much her ass swayed in front of him. She must have known he was looking because she laughed at his reaction.

Jaune brought his hand up to his neck, wiping away the moisture and finding that it wasn't blood. Did she… lick him? Jaune had been licked by a woman before, sure, but he hadn't been expecting it while standing in an airfield. Nor while clothed, for that matter.

Gods above, this was going to be a long day, wasn't it?

* * *

**Yes, Jaune, yes it is. And the day after will be longer.**

**I don't plan on writing ANs much for this story, but I'll put one here just to summarize the background info:**

**The time skip is around 12 years ahead of where we are in the show, as of V7. That makes most the cast 31, Ruby 29, and Oscar 27, give or take a matter of months. In this story, Salem wasn't killed, but they got as close as they could. The world now knows about the Queen of the Grimm, and who it was who kicked her ass. It will take Salem decades, if not a century, to get close to her previous strength. In the meantime, the world is taking advantage of almost no Grimm threat. Huntsman are less needed as warriors and almost needed more as celebrities to inspire the repopulation efforts. **

**Some of the main cast, obviously, are better at being celebrities, and some of that main cast have fallen away from everyone else. This story is about the latter, and more specifically, _why._ **

**Oh, and there will be a companion scene that goes up on my other account at some point... :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Here's a second chapter, I guess. No word on when me and my totally-secret never-to-be-named co-author are going to start uploading our other project, or if it will go up on this account or on his/hers. I _guess_ I'll let you guys know if we post it on Mall**— I** mean on theirs.**

**:D**

* * *

_**The "Why" We Fall Apart**_

_**chapter two**_

* * *

The welcome speech Jaune ended up giving didn't last all that long, which was Jaune's preferred method of speaking. He introduced Yang Xiao Long to the men – not that she needed any introduction – and had invited her up in front of everyone. He was still not sure what Yang's intentions were – getting licked by her in the first 30 seconds will do that to you – but he figured that she had just been messing with him, and that she wouldn't do anything to embarrass herself in front of a crowd. _She_ was the one with a reputation to watch out for. Still, when she walked up from behind him, he had been tense. If anyone in this world would embarrass him in front of his men, it would be Yang Xiao Long.

Nothing happened other than Yang soaking up the attention like a natural, of course. Even though the men of the Argus Defense Base all knew that Jaune was a war hero and he used to run with Team RWBY, seeing him buddy-buddy with Yang fucking Xiao Long bought him so many coolness points.

He hadn't forgotten to actually address the men, too. Starting tomorrow, the base was on full lock-down as they participated in a war game. A few men groaned at having to work long, but Jaune couldn't help but feel a little proud of the excitement in the eyes of most of his men. They were going to give this a good shot, and he wouldn't ask them for any more than that.

"The noodle can actually handle himself in front of a crowd. _Huh._ Not bad, Jaune, not bad…" Yang commented cryptically once he had dismissed the men to resume their posts. Jaune awkwardly watched Yang watch him, with Blake's words from yesterday and the odd sensation of Yang's tongue on his neck haunting him. Yang was doing this all on purpose, that much was for sure; the question was whether that purpose was to fuck with him, or if it was _to_ fuck him. "So, what now, fearless leader?"

Jaune rolled his eyes and didn't rise to the bait. Nora's old nickname for him had long-since lost its sting, mostly because he wasn't nearly the coward he'd been at Beacon's start. "Next up, I'd like to introduce you to my Specialists."

"Specialists?" Yang asked, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "Like _Winter Schnee_ Specialists?"

"Hah! They wish," Jaune let out in a sharp bark of a laugh, dismissing Yang's notion with a casual wave of his hand. "Weiss only got Atlas to turn over their base, not their top personnel. A few Atlas soldiers agreed to naturalize as Mistralians and continue serving here, but you remember the soldiers that guarded this place, right?"

Yang sniggered. "Twiddle-dee and twiddle-dumbass. _Yeah_, I do."

"I had some house-cleaning to do."

He left it at that. There were only a handful of the original Atlas personnel still here, and all of them worked in technical roles, like air-traffic control or maintenance. And they were only here because Ironwood had offered them that chance to naturalize with Mistral in order to remain at Argus; with the Grimm calming down, it cost him little to offer them an early discharge from Atlas' armed forces. "No, my Specialists are pretty analogous to combat school recruits. Gods, the things I would do to have gotten my hands on some _actual_ Specialists who know how to be on god-damned time when I tell them to meet me somewhere!"

It had become apparent to Yang by Jaune's continuously-raising voice that he wasn't talking to her anymore. She followed where he was facing to see eight guys off in the distance suddenly pick up their pace and start to hurry over to where they were waiting.

When they fell in line, well, Yang was not impressed.

"_These_ are your Specialists?" Yang asked, trying not to laugh at them outright. Jaune grinned, mostly because these eight men were who he spent most of his time training, and as such, they were the ones he most enjoyed insulting. "What do they specialize in, not being able to open child-proof locks?"

The 'men' bristled a bit but knew better than to break protocol and speak freely, at least in the first ten seconds of arriving. They weren't technically soldiers so Jaune didn't come down harshly on them for not acting like it, but even they were aware that embarrassing Jaune in front of Yang Xiao Long would not go unpunished. Each one of them had sparred Jaune one-on-one as a punishment for something by this point.

"Wilhelm!" Jaune called out commandingly, "The lady asked a question."

"Counter-Huntsman operations, ma'am," Wilhelm Neige, one of two Atlesian nationals in Jaune's Specialists and the only one who took things seriously, answered. Even _he_ sounded like he wanted to say something witty in retort to Yang. Jaune had called on him because he was the only one who wouldn't give in to that. "When people like you attack the base, it's our role to contain you."

"Is that so?" Yang asked, cutting her eyes to Jaune as a malicious smile spread across her face. "It's going to be hard to take down a Huntress if you can't even hit puberty."

"_Yeah right,_" came a voice from the end of the line-up. Jaune recognized it as Hawk's and knew immediately that the whole '_orderly and respectful_' thing was officially over just by who had decided to speak up. Not knowing this, Yang looked surprised that someone in the unit would speak so boldly out of turn. "Like it's hard to take _you_ down. All I have to do is get you to lean forward and let gravity do the work."

Yang was stunned for a split-moment. Her eyes darted to Jaune, and for the first time, it didn't feel like she was sizing him up or watching him with interest. No, she was looking at him to see if he was upset by his man speaking like that, and if he wasn't, she was asking if she had full reign to return in kind. Jaune made no effort to stand in her way.

"Yeah, like you'll ever have someone half as good as me leaned over for you, Whiskers," Yang shot back near-instantly, zeroing in on the obvious cat Faunus traits the man had. Jaune coughed into his sleeve to hide his laugh, mostly because of the nickname and the other reactions of the guys.

"Gee, racist much?" Hawk – to forevermore be known as Whiskers to the rest of the base, Jaune had a feeling – retorted sarcastically, going to his tried and true method of fucking with everyone else. _Just call them racist and watch them squirm_. It didn't work anymore, both because everyone knew he was just doing to fuck with them, and because the other Faunus in the crew got really pissed when Hawk tried that and would always call him out on it.

He didn't need to here.

"Please, I used to fuck cat girls like you like it was going out of style," Yang dismissed, nearly making Jaune choke on air. Yang and Blake's relations had been so widely covered by tabloids that everyone else had similar reactions, as they knew exactly what Yang meant. She made a big show of looking Hawk up and down suggestively, before giving her head a sad, disappointed shake. "Sadly for you, it looks like it has."

"I-I… but—" Hawk sputtered his words, drowned out by the sheer shock he was going through and the barely-contained howls of laughter coming from his seven squadmates.

"Don't take it personal, _Whiskers_," Slate consoled his squadmate mockingly, clamping an arm around his shoulders. "It's not a race thing. It's a you thing."

"Fuck off."

"So, _Yang_," Jethro called out, trying to casually drop Yang's name as if by doing so that would give him an in and _oh gods, they're all going to try to hit on Yang, aren't they?_ "You ever wanted to know why they call it doggy-style?"

On top of using the same pick-up line he always tried, Jethro stiffened his German Shepherd ears straight up to try to make himself look taller, as if that would hide the fact he was at eye-level with Yang.

Yang tilted her aviators down to give him just a scorchingly-irritated, flat look.

"Don't make me put you down, Old Yeller," Yang deadpanned. She did let a small smirk slip at the look on the guy's face, though. Yang's eyes slid over past the Specialists and back to Jaune, and her smirk grew in a way that made him uncomfortable. "Besides, I already know who I'm coming for tonight."

The context alone was enough to fluster Jaune a bit, and the double entendre certainly didn't help matters. Once glance towards some of the lacking jaws of his men told Jaune that he was never going to hear the end of this, but in a good way. As long as they thought Yang was here for the same reason Jaune feared she was here, he was about to become the base's hero. _Oh great, the legends that will be told of this are going to get out of hand fast, aren't they? _He could already envision dramaticized stories of Jaune Arc slaying the mighty yellow dragon with his 'sword.'

"Okay, that's enough of that," Jaune called out, hoping that his voice didn't give away how awkward he felt. He was just lucky it didn't crack; Jaune was almost 32 years old and had seen hell, and he was still on the verge of having his voice crack at direct female desire. _Go figure._ "Yang, if you'd stop harassing my men, they would appreciate it."

"If you told me where these men were, I sure would," Yang shot back, though she did walk back over to where Jaune was standing. "Are they hiding behind these kids?"

Jaune let Yang's words go unanswered, figuring that was the easiest way for her to drop the subject. He certainly wasn't going to _argue_ with her about it; the oldest Specialist he had was 20.

"Alright, introductions…" Jaune said instead, redirecting the conversation. "I already mentioned Wilhelm Neige. He's our team lead and one of two Atlas nationals on the squad, along with Nicolaus."

Jaune pointed to the two. Wilhelm saluted, and Nicolaus nodded respectfully.

"You've already met Hawk and Jethro," Jaune continued, pointing out the cat and dog Faunus respectively. "Jethro pulls his weight around here. _Whiskers_ was just an affirmative-action hire."

The flat glare he received from Hawk more than made up for it, and Jaune couldn't help but grin.

A chill ran down his spine for a moment as Jaune felt like he was being watched. He was keenly aware that he _was_, and a fleeting glance confirmed that Yang was indeed still watching him a little too closely. He felt like he was being judged, and he wasn't certain he liked that he seemed to be measuring up so far.

"That's Slate. Next to him is Aaron, or AA if you want to piss him off—" _which Jaune figured Yang would make use of eventually,_ "—and then the last two are Mason and Squeaks."

"_Squeaks_?" Yang asked incredulously, giving the youngest member of Jaune's squad a funny look. "There's gotta be a fun story behind that. What'd you do?"

"Nothing, ma'am," Squeaks replied, making it clear that he earned the nickname because he sounded like a chew-toy. "My name is—" he stuttered as Yang laughed in his face over his voice, "—my name is Patrick."

"Jaune, seriously, why are you using child soldiers?" Yang asked, turning back to Jaune. "I thought you hated Ozpin, not wanted to steal his methods."

"First of all, everyone here is significantly older than we were when we joined Beacon." _Except for Squeaks, who was sixteen when he joined up and was only just now Beacon age. _That was different, though, because Jaune _wasn't_ planning on using him to fight an endless war with Salem before his 20th birthday. "And second, they might surprise you. I wouldn't dismiss them so easily."

"I'm sure you've worked very hard with them, Jaune, but if you think these punks can do _anything_ to slow me down, you're insane."

"Wanna bet?"

That was Wilhelm's voice that called out, surprising everyone who knew him, Jaune included. Yang's casual dismissal of the team he had worked his ass off for must have gotten under his skin more than they'd realized. Jaune was curious where this was going, because Wilhelm had never so much as mumbled out of turn.

Yang sized up her prey with amusement in her eyes. Jaune was glad that she was focused on someone else.

"What do you have in mind?"

"The war games tomorrow," Wilhelm stated, pausing when Yang looked at him slightly confused.

"I haven't briefed her on that yet," Jaune jumped in. Yang looked to him for an explanation. "Tomorrow, I'm going to have you simulate a rogue Huntress attacking the base. Live ammunition, realistic scenarios, you name it. I need to know how good our response is."

Yang shrugged. Jaune wasn't really concerned that Yang would turn her nose up at the idea of him wanting her to single-handedly attack a military base. Honestly, he expected her to light up at the thought.

"What's my goal?"

"One of three things," Jaune answered easily. "If you can get in and steal a chess piece from one of three secure spots, then you win."

Yang gave him a funny look. They both knew where the chess piece idea came from.

"So, what's the bet?" Yang asked, turning back to Wilhelm.

Despite receiving a dangerous look from one of the deadliest women on Remnant, Wilhelm didn't buckle, and his team seemed to rally behind his play. Honestly, as their trainer and commander, Jaune was a little proud of that, or would be if he wasn't concerned about whatever this bet was going to be.

Wilhelm met Yang's stare in silence, staring back at her and accepting the silent challenge between them. This was serious.

"If you win, you can name your prize."

Jaune thought that was sort of a cop-out offer, but Yang apparently didn't. His stomach churned uneasily as Yang's eyes slid over to him, before going back to Wilhelm. "I can think of something I want."

_Why was he getting dragged into this? _

"And _when_ we win," Wilhelm announced both arrogantly and loudly, "you have to strip for us."

Jaune did a double take to make sure his ears were working right. They must have been, because the other seven heard the same thing, and as it sunk in cocky grins started working their way over all their faces. No one was really sure what had gotten into Wilhelm, but no one ever said that he didn't know how to lead. If Jaune was sure of anything, it was that Yang was going to get absolutely every ounce of effort these boys had tomorrow if she said yes.

And to Jaune's shock, she looked like she just might.

"Careful what you wish for. I don't do _anything _half-way," Yang warned, tilting her aviators down to look Wilhelm in the eyes. "Are you boys even old enough for a peep show?"

"Do you think that's going to fucking stop us?"

Yang wavered for a moment as she stopped to think over just how humiliating it would be if she somehow lost. For Yang, losing a fight was already a rare and humiliating experience, especially if she had bet on herself beforehand. But having to go play stripper for the group of boys that would have humiliated her? That would be a level of embarrassment that not even Jaune had ever glimpsed. Surely that wasn't worth risking.

Her eyes slid over to Jaune, and she realized that he expected her to tell the guys to fuck off with their bet. Something on her face changed while looking at him, though. She'd been watching him all morning, and given Blake's warning, Jaune assumed that she was sizing him up as a date and, potentially, as something more. Jaune watched Yang's thoughts play out in her eyes as she realized that she didn't want to look weak in front of Jaune, either. _It went both ways, apparently, as Yang also wanted to make a good impression with him._ More than anything, that spoke to Jaune about how serious Yang was actually taking this whole thing.

She wouldn't back out now, even if she wanted to.

"You boys have a deal."

* * *

"Gee, Jaune, you sure know how to treat a girl," Yang drawled, feet kicked up onto the corner of his office desk as she leaned back in his chair.

"I didn't hear you complaining when you _inhaled_ all the wings," Jaune sniped back at her, still legitimately upset that he'd left for two minutes to go grab them some drinks and had come back to an empty box of chicken-wings and a ring of barbecue sauce around Yang's mouth.

"Jaune, when you said we'd catch up over dinner, I assumed that meant something more than wings and pizza in your office _while we kept working._"

"While _I_ kept working," Jaune retorted idly as he pulled up a new image on the small projector he'd set up. "All you've done is pig out and pretend to listen."

"I'm sorry, there's only so many times you can show me layouts of a base, _that I've been to before_, before I get bored," Yang cut back, clearly not sorry. Her grin made that much clear, and it was infectious. "Consider it me lashing out as payback for this dinner. I'm a world-famous diva, after all; you can't just ply me with cheap wings and expect that to be good enough."

Jaune did his best to ignore Yang, who they both knew was definitely _not_ too high-brow to pig out on pizza and kick her feet up. If anything, he thought she'd probably enjoy the break from all that pressure, and the way she kept grinning told Jaune that she was just complaining to mess with him.

He still felt a tiny bit bad, though. "I needed to get you up to speed on the layout for tomorrow, but I'll take you out anywhere you want tomorrow night, I promise."

"What's the fanciest restaurant you guys have in Mistral?" Yang asked, after pausing a moment to think.

_Fanciest…?_ Did she remember who she was talking too? Not that Jaune _couldn't_ do fancy; he'd not just ran for mayor but been elected, and while most of that was Weiss' doing and he resigned as soon as he signed the deal to acquire Argus, he'd done enough during the campaign to not fuck it up. Not only could he do fancy, but he could probably get a reservation at Argus' finest dining experiences even without Weiss' help. It was just odd to Jaune that Yang, massive celebrity or no, _wanted_ to go to such a place. He would never have guessed her to be the type to get used to high-end experiences.

"We've got a four-star restaurant in town. Weiss actually prefers some of the more local places, but whenever she comes to town to meet with important people, she takes them there."

"Can you get us in?"

Jaune shrugged and took a bite of his pizza. "If I can't, Weiss could put in two calls and get the place to ourselves."

Yang mulled that over for longer than Jaune would have liked.

"Sounds like a plan, then. Dinner there, and then for dessert, I think I should cash in my winnings…" Yang trailed off, giving Jaune an intentionally dramatic wink as she licked her fingers clean. The memory of Yang licking the side of his neck sent a weird chill down Jaune's spine. Fortunately, they both knew that Yang was just being Yang, making them laugh as neither could hold a straight face for long. Not even she was _that_ overt. Yang was just being funny. He hoped that she was just being funny. _Gods above_, did he ever hope she was just being funny.

"I still can't believe you took that stupid bet," Jaune blurt out, shaking his head softly.

"What's it matter to you?" Yang dismissed, grinning at Jaune for being uncomfortable with it. Being uncomfortable about something around Yang had always been a bad idea; he should have known better. "_I'm_ the one whose honor is on the line."

"Honor?" Jaune asked cheekily, giving Yang a knowing look. "Didn't you pose nude?"

"…that... was for charity," Yang answered slowly, looking for a good comeback and coming up empty, "if you count the International Reproduction Initiative a charity."

"_Oh._ I see, you were just doing your part for humanity," Jaune helped her out sarcastically, doing his best to hold back a laugh.

"Exactly!" Yang pretended to seize on the answer, though it was clear she was just playing along. She didn't have an actual comeback, but she wasn't just about to _admit_ that Jaune had gotten her so easily. "We need those higher birth rates to take advantage of Salem's weakness. I'm just doing my part for a better tomorrow."

"It's not '_disappointing your father,_' it's '_inspiring the world,_'" Jaune added on.

"Right! If spreading my legs for a camera is the best way to be a Huntress, then it would be selfish not to…"

"Oh, from what I hear, you spread your legs for a lot more than just a camera," Jaune cut in snidely, giving Yang a knowing look.

"Hell yeah," Yang answered proudly. There was a little color in her cheeks, but a big grin on her face. "What sort of repopulation drive would I be leading if I didn't get bent over every now and then? I'm a gods-damned hero, Jaune."

Jaune almost choked on his drink, which Yang found incredibly funny if her bubbling laughter was any indication. Once recovered, he shook his head, silently wondering how the hell they'd gotten on this topic, and how Yang had made _him_ more uncomfortable than she was. They were also both enjoying this a little too much for his comfort.

"Aww, don't tell me someone's jealous…"

"Jealous of what?" Jaune asked with a grin. "Some roast beef sandwich-looking pussy?"

Yang's face flattened as she glared at him for that, which just sent Jaune into a fit of giggles this time. It wasn't often that he got one like that over on Yang Xiao Long.

Satisfied with himself, Jaune flashed her a cheeky grin, which only dug his grave even deeper. He knew he'd pay for that later. Yang wasn't the type to let a challenge go unanswered.

"Nah, I'm not jealous," Jaune dismissed, hoping that now that he'd taken the piss out of Yang, she'd drop the topic altogether. He really _wasn't_ jealous, but there just wasn't any plausible way to tell that to Yang. Jaune had a feeling he'd be looking for one for the next few nights, though. "The way I see it, tomorrow night, I'm either about to record you stripping or I'm going to get to do my part to repopulate the planet."

_Damnit, Jaune, what happened to dropping this topic? _

"Trust me, I'm going to do so much more to you than that," Yang dropped her voice low, and Jaune wondered if she meant that in a good way or in a payback way, until she gave Jaune a flirty wink to really over-sell it. Jaune found he did not like it when she doubled-down on his own joke to the point that it made him wonder if it really was a joke. Even when Yang let out a laugh at his expression, he still wasn't convinced. "But seriously, if you _ever_ record me naked, _in any context_, I will break you."

"I mean, if you're into that sort of thing—"

"_In half,_ Jaune," Yang growled, flexing her robotic arm to make a point.

"And I'll split you in half," Jaune responded, locking eyes with Yang. She took it as a challenge, just like he knew she would, and a staredown commenced.

"I fucking doubt that, Vomit Boy."

"I'll at least split part of you," Jaune amended, barely able to hold back his grin. "How about I start by splitting your legs, and we'll see what happens from there?"

Yang's stare held for a few seconds longer, before she forced herself to close her eyes.

"Damnit," she let out under her breath, unable to fight the smile on her face any longer. "That was good. How long have you been sitting on that?"

"All night," Jaune answered cheekily. "Thought of it while I was giving my speech this morning. I've been waiting literally all day for you to give me a chance to use it."

"I'm going to have to one-up you now. You realize that, right?"

Jaune did realize that, and that was what scared him. He could see a very easy path where their joking around went a little too far and got things moving, and he wasn't sure he could trust himself to pull back if Blake's warning came true. His ring-finger tingled at the thought. He wasn't used to not wearing anything there. It was another item on a list of things he couldn't risk having to explain to Yang.

"Can we just get back to work?" Jaune whined, really not liking that he just inspired Yang to take this maybe-a-joke thing they were apparently doing further. "You still don't know anything about our security."

"And why do you need to prep me for your security?" Yang asked with an edge to her voice. "Didn't you bring me here to test it? I can't really give you an honest assessment if I know all of the weak points _before_ I attack."

Jaune let out a frustrated huff. The real reason he wanted Yang prepped was that he _really_ wanted to test whether his men could protect high-value objects from people who knew what their security was like. Traitors or former allies turned against them were Jaune's greatest fear or, more specifically, rogue Huntsmen and Huntresses. Jaune needed to know with absolute certainty that if shit really hit the fan, his base was a safe haven from Huntresses on par with Yang Xiao Long, and not just because of the Relic that Weiss had entrusted him to guard here. While guarding it was important, it was locked deep beneath the base in a vault that would take days of drilling to get through.

No, he needed this because he was scared shitless that his world might someday depend on stopping a threat just like that.

Again, there was no possible way to explain any of that to Yang, not without it trickling back to all of the others. The Relic, at least, could be explained as paranoia on Jaune or Weiss' part, but that was all that could be explained. It was just a risk he could never take. He would have to settle with giving her an explanation that she would want to buy into.

"I'm trying to do worst-case scenario here, Yang. My nightmare is someone on or even near the level of _the_ Yang Xiao Long attacking my base and knowing my every step before I even make it." Yang had no idea just how close to the truth that statement was. "Short of the entire place being blown up, I can't think of a worse scenario for us."

"I still feel like you're making this too easy for me," Yang commented, giving Jaune a sly look. "You just want to make sure that I win that bet, don't you?"

"Fine, we don't need to go over it, have it your way," Jaune gave up, flicking one hand into the air in exasperation. "Do you at least have a plan?"

* * *

'_Do you at least have a plan?' he asked._ The explosion of an RPG tipped with Smoke Dust – a fun blend of Water, Fire, and Ice a la Weiss' SDC – sent the base below her into chaos and provided a decent distraction. _Yes_, per Jaune's insistence she fired it at an empty plot of grass near the barracks so that no one got hurt.

The smoke from the bomb would mask the vapor trail that led to her position, but that didn't matter as she didn't plan on waiting here forever. She had her choice of three different targets she could pick: the armory, Jaune's office, or the hangar on the airstrip. Despite her more confrontational style, you didn't spend so much quality time with Blake Belladonna over the years and not pick up some sneakier tactics. She'd placed the RPG between the command center with Jaune's office and the barracks, which led to the armory. In their confusion, they'd soon realize that she was trying to draw them away from her targets, but the hangar was too far away for them to get back in time.

A second rocket fired at the scattered personnel ought to add a little extra chaos. It was a pure Lightning Dust rocket, and wasn't lethal (even though they should totally have their Aura up after an explosion goes off) but would send people onto the ground in shaking fits, which would draw more eyes away from her target.

Yang turned and looked at her companion on top of the very top of the boot-shaped base's highest point.

"Too easy."

"We'll see," Jaune replied simply. She hadn't even moved from her 'starting position.' All she had requested ahead of time was an RPG and a view, and Jaune had known how to treat a girl right. If she was honest, she was more than impressed with the noodle so far. She'd come here half-way convinced that she was crazy for telling Blake her plan to finally settle down and even crazier for letting Weiss suggest _Jaune_, and while she knew that nothing was _that_ easy, she'd all but made up her mind by now. Jaune was first on a very short list of people Yang could consider dating, and she was not planning on letting that slip away for lack of trying. She couldn't _wait_ to show off her dress at dinner that night and, hopefully, let it wrinkle on Jaune's floor afterwards.

_Focus, Yang!_ Right. She was on a rooftop. She had a job to do.

"See you in a few minutes, loser," Yang called out, before swan-diving off the roof.

The free-fall was fun but nothing new to her, and she kicked off the side of the building to get a little bit of a horizontal push going, before allowing her gauntlet to take over and use her normal landing strategy to propel her towards the hangar.

The one downside to going after the hangar was that she had to cross a wide-open portion of the airfield. She wasn't worried about being spotted at this point, as all she had to do was grab the piece from the hangar and make it off of the base, and in the ocean counted. Grab the relic, take a swim, simple as that. No, Yang was just annoyed at how long it was taking her to get across the airfield. She had a running bet with herself that this mission wouldn't even last longer than Jaune will.

A small explosion tore up the pavement directly in front of her, sending rocks and ice chunks everywhere, causing Yang to stumble. Yang turned her head to find one of Jaune's Specialists had noticed her from across the airfield and was sprinting over after her. That didn't matter, though. She'd be in and out of the hangar by the time he caught up. The guy was too far away to be effective with his rifle, and the Dust that had nearly tripped her seemed to be a lucky shot based on his shot pattern.

Yang blasted her way inside the hangar to find the dog-Faunus Specialist guarding a table in the center, with a small wooden knight piece sitting on it.

Yang rolled her eyes. Of course these guys would cheat and just try to guard the relic directly. She had a feeling that if they weren't afraid of Jaune, they might try to hide all the chess pieces, or even burn them. Not that she blamed them; they were fighting for a once-in-a-lifetime sort of prize, after all.

"Jethro, right?" she called out as she walked up to the kid.

"Yes ma'am."

"Easy way or hard way?"

Jethro grabbed a scimitar off his hip with his right hand and a large buster gun with his left. It was the kind that really just shot large bursts of Dust, and Yang knew that because she remembered it from half-way paying attention when Jaune talked about it yesterday. She could see from the bandolier Jethro wore that he had plenty of ammunition for it.

_Eh._ It wouldn't save him.

Yang launched herself at Jethro with her left gauntlet, going feet-first. The Faunus was at least prepared for that and braced her attack, flipping her up and over to make her overshoot both him and the table with the relic. It would have been a good way to keep her from her prize, had Yang not planned it from the start and fired a round out of her robotic arm. It clipped the back-half of the table, which launched the chess piece in the air. It didn't fly all the way to Yang in the air – which was disappointing, because that would have just looked cool as hell – but it did roll over to her after falling to the ground.

"That was easy," Yang taunted as she kicked the 'relic' up into her arms and tucked it in her pocket.

Now, she just had to get out. Unfortunately, reinforcements were arriving, as two more Specialists had made it to the head of the hangar, and in the distance more were coming. _Unfortunate for them, at least._ It meant that Yang got to fight her way out.

Yang stared down her nearest opponent lazily, letting his two teammates make it over to him. She watched their movements with mild amusement, the way a lion watched its cubs try to sneak up on it.

"Help's on the way, boys," Jethro reminded them, as if that would save them. "Stick together."

"Please do, it makes it easier to hit you all at once," Yang taunted. It didn't have any effect that she could see, but one she started cracking heads, she'd see how brave these boys really were.

When it became clear they were going to wait for Yang to make a move, she did. With another gauntlet blast, Yang launched herself directly at her opponents, but at a lower angle this time. She dropped to her knees and made it clear that she wanted them to think she was going for a three-person leg sweep, and they bit on it.

Rather than shoot directly at her, they all shot Ice Dust in unison at the ground in front of her again. Yang recognized that they were smart enough to try to control the flow and layout of a fight, but they weren't anywhere near her level yet. With a blast down into the ground like she'd been planning the whole time, Yang popped up into the air. If anything, the ice they shot obstructed their view, meaning they had little time to react as Yang popped up over the ice and came down on them. Yang landed with a foot in Jethro's chest, knocking him backwards onto the ground and leaving her between the other two.

Instincts kicked in and Yang's blood ran hot for just a moment, as she could sense the danger she'd placed herself in with her positioning. _Gods above did she love that moment of panic and adrenaline, fleeting as it was._ It was hard to truly make Yang feel nervous in a fight, and she only ever got glimpses of it, like now. As soon as she took stock of her situation, that feeling faded, much to her disappointment.

On her right: short sword, another buster. Left: cattle prod, buster.

She let them have the first move, hoping that fleeting feeling of adrenaline and euphoria would come back. She knew it wouldn't for as long as she was in control, though.

Motion from her right came first. A short-sword was coming for her head, and was blocked on the back of her robotic arm. He tried to get his buster up and pointed at her stomach, but Yang intercepted his wrist and used it to spin him around, buying her time to turn around and twist her hips enough to dodge a jab from a cattle prod. It's user – Slate? she wasn't sure – pulled back before hitting his teammate, which was a heads-up thing to do. It also cost him a fraction of a second, which was all the time Yang needed to put a fist into his gut and launch him across the hangar.

Jethro was back by then, and he teamed up with – Aaron? Gods, she really should have paid attention – the other guy with a sword. They exchanged the briefest of glances before they both decided that they weren't going to be heroes, and instead opened fire on Yang.

She didn't begrudge them for making the smart play, even if it annoyed her. Dust rounds as big as those didn't travel all that fast – they were honestly miniature missiles more than they were bullets – and Yang had little trouble weaving through them. One step left, a hop right, and as soon as her foot hit the ground she blasted off with her gauntlet and dove low, taking out both of their legs at the same time.

And like that, nothing stood between her and the hangar exit.

Yang began to take off in that direction, before something smacked her in the shoulder. A rush of cold shot through her core and her mechanical right arm felt heavy, meaning that someone had just shot her with Ice Dust and had nailed her shoulder blade. She tried to turn around but Jethro and Aaron had both started firing on her from their position on the ground, and Yang started to rack up a serious glacier on her back.

Then a Lightning Dust round hit her calf, buckling Yang and dropping her down on one knee. The next thing Yang knew, her body was on fire as a cattle prod was applied directly to the back of her neck, and held there to try to drain her of her Aura.

_You've got to be fucking kidding._ They really hadn't been fighting to win, but they were fighting to contain and slow her down, and they weren't bad at it. She'd have to give Jaune compliments later if she wasn't so pissed off right now. These little shits actually thought that they were going to make her strip for them, didn't they?

Well, it wasn't going to be a striptease, but she'd show them something they'd never forget.

Ice shards exploded off of Yang as she unleashed her Semblance. She hadn't taken that much damage, but when combined with her anger, it was more than enough to knock back Mr. Cattle Prod and free Yang.

Those three retreated, and Yang looked up to see that the rest of their buddies were rushing in through the hangar door now, fanning out in a semi-circle to prevent Yang from having any straight line to the wide hangar doorway. _Good._ They were all about to learn why you did not fuck with Yang Xiao Long.

"Alright, who wants it first?" Yang asked, the flames in her hair not quite dying out yet.

Yang actually preferred that no one stepped out of line and instead let her decide what happens. She scanned her opponents until she found the one she was looking for: Whiskers.

She was on him in a near-instant, traveling almost as fast as the sound of her gauntlet propelling her. Hawk refused to let her bounce over him and escape, and took the full force of her robot fist instead. That knocked him on his back several yards away, and like that, Yang had broken into their lines.

A reflection of light off a blade to her right caught her eye. It was coming in at a down-diagonal from Squeaks' right hand, and Yang ducked down and left as she turned to face him in order to avoid its edge. His eyes went wide as he was at least experienced enough to know that an opponent stepping into his guard was bad, especially when he was one-handing a katana and hadn't even stopped his missed swing yet. Yang's left hand shot out and crushed his right wrist in its grip, before twisting it back violently. He let out a pained yelp and dropped the katana, which Yang caught out of the air in a reverse-grip with her right hand, bringing it up to slash across Squeaks' chest in one fluid motion.

She didn't have to kick him away, as he stumbled backwards and allowed Yang a chance to turn around and face Jethro again. Idly, she twirled the katana she stole until it settled down into a standard grip, and used its slight length advantage over Jethro's scimitar to force him back as he charged in. It was a thoughtless move on Yang's part – more an instinctual effort to create some space than anything – and Yang's swing left her exposed when it missed. Jethro took his best shot at lunging at her and chopping at her sternum, only to be surprised that Yang recovered in time to get her katana back in front of her to catch the blow.

For a brief moment, she saw the whites of his eyes as he was surprised by Yang's speed. It wasn't every day they fought someone with a robotic arm, Yang guessed.

That left them interlocked, trying to push the other over. Yang was on the back foot from the attack, otherwise she would have had no problem overpowering this punk, but as it was they were pushing evenly. That was, until his eyes flicked just past Yang's and over her shoulder, reminding Yang that she had at least six other attackers converging on her.

Jethro released from their stalemate and allowed Yang to take a big slice into his Aura, which Yang certainly took advantage off. The trade off was that Jethro allowed this so that he could bear hug Yang, sacrificing himself so that his buddies would get free shots on Yang. That wasn't about to happen, not on her watch. She'd give him credit on his willingness to sacrifice, but the idiot had pinned Yang's sword-hand between their waists, and with one mighty robotic flick to the balls, Jethro released his hold and fell to the ground whimpering.

Even with six foes charging in on her, Yang found time to giggle to herself about that. It wasn't every day you see a dog Faunus whimpering on the ground like a puppy.

Footsteps broke her out of her thoughts and her instincts kicked in again. Yang spun and threw the katana at the nearest two Specialists, aiming for their knees. They both leapt over it, and Yang landed a shotgun shell directly in the one on the left's chest, knocking him out of the air. She cocked back and sent another one at the other, but he hit the ground rolling and the round passed by overhead.

That was fine. He popped up and tried to use that to slash up at her with an arming sword – seriously, did _all_ of them have one-handed swords and a buster? – which Yang stopped in its tracks with her prosthetic. With her good hand, she grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him up and over herself, slamming him bodily into the ground on the other side of Yang.

His buster came free, and with more Specialists barreling down at her, Yang stepped down on the edge of the handle, popping the weapon up into her right hand. She had four Specialists coming at her and opened fire to slow them down more than anything. One of them, Wilhelm, dodge-rolled forward and then pulled up while returning fire, forcing Yang to move to the side.

A rapier lunged at her face, and Yang scoffed to herself. She'd seen more than her fair share of rapiers pointed at her face after sparring with Weiss for years, and she was disappointed by the usage. _You don't go for the face; it's too easy to dodge._ In fact, Jaune should really know better than to teach them to do that; he sparred with Weiss as much as… anyone…

_Fuck._ It was a feint, and that dawned on Yang a moment too late. The rapier had flashed high and then lunged at center mass. Yang spun sideways as rapidly as she could to avoid the blade, but not for the first time in her life cursed her bust size as it stuck out too far. Getting stabbed in the tits was not fun, Aura or no, and since Yang had already taken the damage for it, she leaned into it to step right into her attacker's guard. A right cross to the face, a deep jab to the diaphragm, and then a flying knee to the underside of the chin, finished with a kick of his chest with her other leg that sent her backwards in the air a few feet.

She rode that into a people's elbow in the back of the poor sap she had previously slammed to the ground, who was scrambling to get up and was just a little too slow. Yang actually felt bad about that one; he'd have a knot in his back for weeks.

"Ugh, would you people give up already," Yang huffed as the remaining two charged her. Others were picking themselves off their feet or already making their way back to the fight. _Jeez, Yang, they fight like a bunch of horny boys who you promised to show your tits to if they could beat you. Go figure._ Well, there was one way to put an end to that.

Yang let the two in front of her charge into her, and even let them feel like they were making some headway by backing up to avoid their slashes. They were in sync pretty well actually, both of them throwing in hip-fired buster shots to try to throw Yang off-rhythm. Yang waited patiently as she backpedaled, keenly aware that more enemies were approaching from behind.

_There._ The one on the left committed to a swing into the middle, leaving his side exposed. Yang's legs tensed before she left the ground, spinning to deliver a roundhouse kick that kicked _through_ the head of the first one and caught the second one too. The first was knocked out cold, and the second stumbled over dizzily.

Buster fire began to pelt Yang from behind as their teammates tried to assist, so Yang took ahold of her dazed victim's arm and brought it behind him, using him as a human shield to keep the others from firing on her.

That bought Yang enough time to realize that she saw the back wall of the hangar in front of her, meaning behind her was an unguarded exit.

"Sorry about this," Yang mumbled to her human shield, yanking on his arm and dislocating his shoulder with a pop. Jaune would be pissed about that, but she couldn't bring herself to care about that yet. Yang shoved him into the arms of his buddies, and to his credit, he didn't scream in agony or anything. That was good for something.

"This has been fun, boys, but…" Yang pulled out the chess piece, waggling it in the air, "…I've got a prize to collect."

Yang turned and began to run for the exit, grinning the whole time.

"Yeah, sure," the voice of one of the Specialists called out to her, "run away from a fight. Just like your mother."

Yang stopped on a dime, and her grin fell at an alarming rate. Did she hear that right? Did someone _want_ to die? Yang's attitude towards Raven Branwen wasn't exactly something she was shy about, but very few people had ever had the gall to bring it up. Yang had long-since made her peace with Raven, but that didn't mean she didn't hate the woman, or hate the comparison.

Deep down, she knew that this person was just trying to get under her skin, like all sore losers when they're beaten. It would be a terrible precedent to let it affect her, but it already had. Was it worth going back there and teaching him a lesson over?

"Go on, Little Raven, scram!" the voice continued. "At least _you_ don't have a kid to run out on yet!"

_Oh, this dude is dying._

In an instant, Yang spun around and launched herself at the source of the voice with a speed she hadn't deployed yet tonight. The six conscious people who hadn't spoken a word made no move to guard the dead man, who turned out to be their commander, Wilhelm. That should have surprised Yang, as Jaune had indicated he really wasn't the arrogant or talkative type, but she was too furious.

Wilhelm barely got his hands up before she was on him, barreling into him with her shoulder and knocking him flat on his back. Before the guy could blink, she was straddling his stomach and communicating to him through her bare fists _exactly_ how much of a jackass he was.

The bastard was able to get his arms in front of his face, which was fine with Yang. It meant she would have to hit him even harder to cave his skull bone in. She wasn't going to _kill_ him, but if she broke his nose and fractured his skull? Well, that was a fair trade.

None of the other Specialists drug Yang off of him or tried to help him at all. They were either too scared of Yang or too surprised by Wilhelm to do anything.

"Say it again, punk!" Yang taunted. Her fist found and broke his nose, breaking his Aura at the same time. Yang was already coming down from her anger high and _did_ note that he was vulnerable now, and made a point not to harm him. _Hurt him, yes, but not harm._

An air horn sounded off in the distance, distracting Yang. She looked up to find Jaune walking into the hangar. Looking down, Yang realized that this probably wasn't a great look for her, and she pushed herself off of her prey to find out what was going on.

Jaune had a weird look on his face, which made Yang uneasy. She would have said that it was because she'd tried to murder his squad commander, but all the conscious Specialists around her started to buzz with whispers. She could see shocked smiles starting to break out. Something was up.

"Well, congratulations are in order," Jaune announced, earning a confused head-tilt from Yang. "The Specialists have successfully defended the base."

"_What?_" Yang asked as the grins and excitement around her suddenly made sense. This could _not_ be happening. "The fuck do you mean? Do they _look_ like they were winning?"

Jaune leered at her. "The battle? No. But they won the war."

"What the fuck does _that_ mean?" Yang blurted out, agitated. She was keenly aware that what Jaune was implying was that she owed these kids a striptease and hell was going to freeze over before she just agreed to that. "Last time I checked, I was kicking their asses _and_ I have the relic."

"If you had let me explain everything last night, then maybe you'd know the rules of engagement," Jaune sassed, giving her a shit-eating grin. Yang's face fell at that. _Fuck._ _Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck._ The bastard _would _make her regret that, wouldn't he? "You're simulating an attack on the base. As soon as the alarm is raised, you have eight minutes and thirty seconds to escape, or you lose."

"No h-hard feelings," Wilhelm sputtered out as best as he could, having half of his weight supported by Jethro. Despite a bloodied nose, he was grinning at her, satisfied with his work. "I was just stalling. Sorry if I, uh, went a little far."

Yang growled at him. She was not in the mood to be trifled with. Her window to escape having to humiliate herself was shrinking exponentially by the second.

"What the fuck happens at eight minutes thirty seconds?" Yang asked, whipping her head back to Jaune.

"That's Mr. Arc's response time from his house," Wilhelm supplied, though he did flinch when Yang glared at him. He sounded nasally. "In the event of a Huntress, all we have to do is stall her for Jaune. He does the rest."

Yang's eyes slid to Jaune murderously. "Is that so?"

Meekly, Jaune shrugged. He knew where this was going.

"Well, it seems to me that this simulation isn't over yet," Yang spat out venomously. "You and I need to have a little spar to settle how this would really end."

Jaune didn't reply. He stared her down cautiously. No one spoke a word.

"I'm _not_ honoring the bet unless you beat me," Yang added on, knowing what the reaction would be. Suddenly, Jaune had seven children begging Jaune to accept for their sake. Yang was down a little on Aura, but a one-on-one with Jaune in order to stop herself from getting naked in front of _at least_ one minor? He would never know what hit him.

Without a word, Jaune drew Crocea Mors from its scabbard and held it out towards her.

"Your move."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I wasn't planning on uploading this today, but hey, here we are anyways. I'm currently stalled a bit on writing out Ch. 5, as I have too many different angles I want to show all at the same time. Just kinda working on deciding how I want to write that one out, and I have grad school applications staring me in the face, demanding all my free time.**

**But here's this chapter... :D**

* * *

_**The "Why" We Fall Apart  
c**__**hapter three **_

* * *

Yang knew exactly what Jaune was doing. He was aware of just how badly Yang wanted to pummel him right now – through no fault of his own, though that really didn't matter – and he was a smart fighter. Jaune was keeping Yang at bay so well that it almost looked like he was running away the whole time. With the wide-open space of the hangar providing no obstacles, he could probably do that for a while. It was the smart thing to do. They had already whittled some of their Aura down through a few small exchanges where Yang made it clear she was not going to rest until she landed a massive blow on him.

They both knew his strategy wasn't going to save him. Sooner or later, Yang was going to catch him, and if he was still trying to turn and flee when that happened, he was going to get knocked the fuck out without ever seeing it coming.

As Jaune's feet landed from dodging one of her shells, Yang launched herself at him with her left gauntlet. Jaune sidestepped the blow and half-sworded Crocea Mors, hoping to use Yang's velocity against her as he swiped at her from just outside her reach. Jaune made sure not to clip too much of her, though, because if he accidentally slowed her down, she might land close enough to charge him before he could turn around. What resulted was a half-hearted swipe that scratched its way down Yang's metal arm, doing nothing.

Yang kept a keen eye watching Jaune's expression, and noted that he was watching her movements just as cautiously. It was only a matter of time before he tried to surprise her by making a stand, so Yang figured it was time to get ahead of that curve.

Yang twisted herself in mid-air to land on her feet and face Jaune, skidding backwards as her momentum ground to a slow halt. It didn't help that the moment she faced Jaune, she unfolded the compartment on top of her forearm and opened fire on Jaune with carbine rounds that traveled faster than her shotgun shells. Jaune may be a smart fighter, but she was Yang Xiao Long, Remnant's premiere warrior. There wasn't a better fighter that was still breathing and _not_ an immortal wizard. _And hell, she could still take Oscar down on a good day._

The gunfire surprised Jaune, just like she'd been hoping it would. It traveled faster than he expected and two rounds pinged off his Aura before he got his shield unfolded and brought up in front of him. He was used to her shotgun shells, which along with her fists he had been exclusively dodging. Now, with his shield partially-obscuring his vision and preventing him from retreating any further, the fun began.

She grinned as she saw Jaune's head twitch from just over the top of his shield. He couldn't see what she'd done, but he heard her gauntlet go off, which he now knew meant shotgun shell and not carbine. He dodge-rolled to the side just like she wanted him to, and as he tried to pop back up onto his feet, she nailed the side of his knee with another carbine round.

_Gotcha._

Jaune wobbled out of control and came out of his roll only to stumble forward onto the ground. His bulky shield only made matters worse, and with one more blast from her gauntlets, Yang was on him.

There was a loud metal clang as Yang drove her fist down onto his shield. From his position on his knees, he'd only barely gotten it above his head before she got to him, and Yang was somewhat impressed that his core was strong enough to stay upright without either leg being able to brace.

"Hey Jaune," Yang called out playfully.

"Y-Yeah?" Jaune asked back from behind his shield, a little bit of strain in his voice.

"Last chance to surrender."

Yang heard Jaune snort from behind his shield.

She could _almost_ hear Jaune panic as she tried to kick him in the crotch, aiming to get the point of her foot underneath his shield and planted between his left and right nut. Jaune let out a yelp and clasped his legs together to avoid disaster, and Yang took the opportunity to grab hold of his shield and rip it away, snapping the leather strap around his arm and slinging the shield well out of reach.

Jaune looked up at her wide-eyed. "Is it too late to accept your surren—"

Yang popped Jaune in the mouth before he finished that sentence, grinning the whole time.

…until gravity kicked in as Jaune threw himself backwards, kicking his legs up to sweep her off her feet in the process. They both scrambled to their feet, and this time Jaune didn't try to run away. Without his shield, Yang had the advantage in ranged combat. She also had the advantage in close quarters. All Jaune had the advantage in was Aura remaining – though not by much and not for long – and in a very specific range just out of Yang's reach but not so far that she could sit back and shoot him. _Swords are such a stupid thing to use._

"Let's see what you got, Vomit Boy," Yang taunted idly, rolling her neck and grinning at Jaune. She'd already won the fight at this point, and was just curious how it was going to play out.

To her surprise, Jaune dropped his sword on the ground and adopted one of Ren's more kung-fu-y poses. Yang almost laughed at him, and would have had he not looked 100% serious.

As soon as Yang took a step towards him, he switched from that into a boxer's stance to throw her off, which was maybe the only thing he could do that was even dumber: challenge her in her element.

Yang took one last step to close the distance between them and Jaune preempted her with a right hook at her face. Yang leaned back to avoid it in what was one of the most natural movements in the world for her, and as she leaned back in she jabbed under his ribs with her left arm, taking advantage of his missed hook.

Jaune surprised her by throwing out the standard rules of boxing and instead of trying to recover and get square, he headbutted her right between the eyes. The sound of skull-on-skull action rung in her head and Jaune landed a weak left hook across her cheek before Yang recovered. She played it off like she was still dazed and left her stomach exposed, and Jaune took the bait and tried to give her an uppercut. She beat him to the punch – _heh, pun_ – by jabbing him in the nose with her right hand, before firing a carbine round into his face point blank. Jaune managed to duck out of the way before that landed, but the gunshot went off right in his ear and he stumbled back a few paces.

All in all, he'd held his ground pretty well. Yang was impressed, or would be later, when she wasn't absolutely focused on crushing him.

Yang rushed in to take advantage of his weakness, but just like she'd baited him, he returned the favor. Jaune stamped his foot down where Crocea Mors lay discarded on the ground, which flicked the weapon up into the air. Jaune caught it by the tip, and Yang got careless for a moment as she expected him to readjust to the weapon and get a proper grip.

Nope. Still holding the blade, Jaune jabbed the weapon out and popped Yang in the nose with the pommel, staggering her backwards in surprise. _Now_, he readjusted his grip, flashy Yang a cocky smirk that only fanned the flames.

"You're a dead man, Arc."

Jaune winked at her.

With that, Yang held nothing back. She lunged at him and Jaune ducked to the side, keeping his sword held out behind him so that she couldn't grab it while she was in close quarters with him. Yang's feet hit the dirt and she spun around instantly, spinning around with her left fist seeking Jaune's gut.

Jaune caught the inside of her wrist on his blade and used that to push her blow out to his side, putting them almost hip to hip. After having dropped the tip of Crocea Mors down to redirect her blow, Jaune drew it back up in almost the same motion he would make to draw it from its missing sheath, swiping at her chest in the process. Yang didn't even bother avoiding it, knowing that there was no way she was moving her two icebergs out of the way in time. She grit her teeth as Jaune sliced across her girls, and leaned in closer as he did so. Jaune realized that she was taking away any of his room to move – _booby-trapping him, if you will –_ and he only barely got his left hand with the pommel above her shoulder, with the blade somewhat awkwardly pinned between their chests, before he couldn't really angle his arm to get it any higher.

And Yang unloaded on him, bringing her prosthetic arm right into the soft spot beneath his rib cage with devastating force. It was enough to pick his feet up off the ground momentarily, and Jaune's pained grunt as all air left his lungs was music to her ears. Before Jaune's feet made it back to the ground, she clocked him in the side of the head with her left fist, blasting him with a shotgun shell point-blank as she did so.

She could have capitalized on Jaune as he bounced across the ground, but it was too fun to watch.

"How's that big Aura of yours doing?" Yang called, smiling. Her blood felt like it was on fire. It had been ages since she had a fight like this, and she couldn't bring herself to end it yet. This was way too much fun. "Ready to surrender yet?"

"No!" the peanut-gallery shouted almost in unison, watching from a safe distance. Yang fought the urge to roll her eyes. In their shoes, she'd be cheering for Jaune too.

Jaune watched what was currently the most fanatic group of supporters in Remnant's history with a goofy smile, before turning back to Yang and shrugging. "Don't think I can."

_Good_, Yang almost said out loud. She'd have been furious if he denied her the fight now that she was getting worked up for it.

Jaune charged her for the first time tonight, and her adrenaline spiked as her eyes trailed the path of Crocea Mors' point. Jaune raised his right arm above his head trying to make her think he was throwing a diagonal slash, but his tip remained pointed at her the whole time. She bit just enough on the feint to make him go forward with stabbing at her chest. Jaune went for it as soon as her left arm started to come up to 'block' the slash, and she slapped the blade away as she brought her left arm back in front of her.

That left Jaune in a terrible position and all Yang had to do was get her right arm out from where Jaune's sword had been pushed in its way, and then she could step into his guard and finally take the lead on Aura remaining. Instead, Jaune used her own trick against her, pressing up close to Yang to use her bust as a natural barrier to free movement. That was not lost on Yang, and as Jaune pressed himself up against Yang he slid right past her, drawing a knife from his belt with his left hand and slicing across Yang's stomach as he went.

Yang hadn't been expecting that and it stung a little more than she cared to admit, which only fueled the flames. Jaune was a far better fighter than she remembered. Aside from a general desire to rip his head off, Yang was loving every moment of this. That would change if she actually lost, though.

She didn't let Jaune get away from her, stepping forward to stay too close for his sword to be effective. Yang was already envisioning the combo she was going to use on him and that carelessness cost her again, as she stepped right into Jaune's attempt to shank her liver with that knife of his. She let out a yelp that embarrassed her the moment she realized that everyone was going to hear it, and got angry at Jaune for making her do that. Her right hand shot out and grabbed the knife by the blade, yanking it out of Jaune's hand and tossing it over at their spectators, who had laughed at her vocal slip.

One voice had made a joke about other contexts in which she made that noise. She did her best to aim it at that person's face, even though they weren't exactly wrong.

_Now_ Yang truly did have the advantage, and she knew that because Jaune was making an actual effort to back out of measure. That was good, because her Aura was getting a little low, and Jaune's frustration tactics were keeping her from building up her Semblance. She had some ground to make up here, and _boy_ did she ever.

Her left hand shot out and caught Jaune by the hem of his shirt as he tried to backpedal. With nothing else to do, Jaune awkwardly tried to swing Crocea Mors at her, but she shot it out of his wrist with her prosthetic's gun.

He was at her mercy now, and Yang was not a merciful goddess. In fact, since she was losing, she was the opposite of merciful. The first thing she did was introduce her knee to his taint. Somewhere in the back of her mind, something was telling her not to damage that area too much, but right now nothing in the world existed out of this fight. Jaune barreled over and Yang slugged him in the cheek with her right arm, before releasing his shirt and landing a vicious upper-cut to his gut, capped off with a shotgun shell.

Jaune's Aura sputtered and gave out, but he remained on his feet.

He staggered back and Yang took a split second to decide what to do to her prey next. Taking a page from Neo Politan's book – of all people – Yang rushed forward and leapt at Jaune legs-first, wrapping them around his neck. She wasn't quite as graceful (or short) as Neo so she couldn't do the part where she spun around his neck like a horseshoe around a post, but she didn't need to. Yang had meat in all the right places, and a very large concentration of that meat hit Jaune in the neck at full speed. Her plan was to barrel him over and ride his neck with her thighs until he tapped out.

If he was lucky, it would be a preview of later that night.

To Yang's surprise, Jaune managed to not tip over backwards, which was _bad_. He looked up at her, barely able to make eye contact by looking under her shirt and through the canyon of her cleavage, and grinned.

Desperately, Yang clamped her thighs together, trying to choke Jaune out, when Jaune did something she never expected: an arm snaked up her back, grabbed a fist-full of her hair, and _yanked_. Yang's grip on his neck didn't weaken, but her balance suffered and she was dragged backwards, giving Jaune enough room to bodyslam himself forward onto the ground, which smacked Yang's head on the concrete.

Yang's vision went black and her grip on Jaune's neck slipped. Her instincts kicked in and she squirmed around, soon realizing that Jaune was untangling himself from her to take advantage of the situation. Frantically, she rolled back and away, pushing herself up onto her feet as quickly as possible.

Her Aura cracked and faded away.

They were both out of Aura, standing a few feet apart. Jaune realized it first and twitched to grab something from behind his back, but hesitated momentarily, losing his advantage. That was all the time Yang needed to point her prosthetic's gun at him one last time.

"Nuh uh uh," she warned playfully. "I wouldn't do that."

Jaune put his hands in the air and surrendered. In the distance, wails and gnashing of teeth were heard from Jaune's men. Yang ignored them. Blood was pounding in her chest fiercely. Her breathing was heavier than it had been in years and she struggled to control it. The back of her head was killing her and her whole body ached.

It was the best Yang had felt in years. If it wasn't for the eight boys watching, she would probably have jumped Jaune then and there. _She was honestly still considering it._

"I guess we'll call it a draw," Jaune joked, walking up to her with a dopey grin that Yang had all sorts of urges to wipe off his face in all manner of ways, some less violent than others.

_Fuck it_. He had done it to her a couple of times, so this time Yang surprised Jaune with an attack as he neared her by stepping forward and planting her lips on his. She kept them there as long as her oxygen-starved lungs could hold back her pants for, which was not very long. If he asked about it later, she'd say that she was just testing the waters and trying to embarrass him in front of the others. Or make him their god.

She pulled back grinning. Predictably, he looked like he was still about ten seconds away from realizing what had happened.

"I guess we'll have to finish up tonight then," Yang replied cryptically, intentionally loud enough to be overheard. "See you at dinner."

Yang walked off, preferring to leave Jaune to have to deal with his subordinates after they'd witnessed _that_. She couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

* * *

Over the years, Yang had always gotten a kick out of messing with the heads of her male friends, a subtle form of revenge for them glancing at her chest, purposefully or otherwise. Since that boiled down to mostly Jaune and Ren, this meant using her endowments to tease Jaune, because Ren both kept himself more collected than Jaune and also had a psychotic girlfriend-now-wife that not even Yang really wanted to beef with. Sun would only count if Yang and Blake weren't professional monkey-in-the-middle players...

As Yang arrived at dinner, she wasn't teasing him with a view to mess with him anymore. There was a lot more straightforward reason to show off now.

Being Remnant's premiere celebrity Huntress sex symbol – a mouthful to say – _heh, another pun_ – had its advantages, one being an expensive wardrobe that was custom designed to accentuate Yang's best features. What she was wearing was a tight sash of lavender ribbon _maybe_ four inches wide that started behind her neck and crossed in front in an x-shaped collar that continued over where her cleavage began, going diagonally out over each breast's center, before wrapping around her back. Once it crossed again behind her back, the two crossing ends split into four after the point where they met, with two thickening into a dress tail to cover her rear, and two crossing back into the front and meeting up below her bellybutton, where they also thickened to form a front half of a dress. _Well, maybe three-quarters of a dress._ Her hips all the way down her sides to her heels were exposed, after all.

If you were, for some reason, to only look at Yang from the waist down, she would be dressed sexily, but nothing wild. From the waist up, however, Yang looked like Remnant's most expensive lady of the night. What she was wearing was _technically_ formal enough for this restaurant – it _did_ probably cost as much as the staff made in a quarter – but Yang was expecting some funny looks from the other women and some long looks from other men tonight. She was wearing a dress that showed off her cleavage, underboob, stomach, and thighs, after all. Necks were going to snap from turning to watch her.

Because of the way Jaune physically struggled to make eye contact with her when she showed up, it was worth every penny.

"So, Jaune~" Yang purred, breaking a small silence that hung over them after they had finished their meals. "Do you like my dress?"

Jaune recognized Yang's obvious attempt to fish for a complement for the loaded question is really was, especially when you factored in the looks she'd been giving him. "Does that even count as a dress?"

"You tell me," Yang shot back teasingly. "You're the one who's been staring at it all night."

"Trust me, I'm not the only one," Jaune deflected snidely, flicking his eyes around to some of the other tables to make a point.

"Hmmm, well, I'm glad they like it, but I didn't wear it for them," Yang hummed in response. It was time to be a little more direct and her choice of words definitely was not lost on Jaune. "Sadly, the guy I _did_ wear it for won't even tell me he likes it."

It was a page from Ruby's book that Yang was borrowing, giving Jaune a nice little pout and just the right amount of sad puppy dog eyes. She knew he wouldn't fall for it, but he was a nice enough guy to still feel bad either way.

"The 'dress' looks incredible on you," Jaune gave in, rolling his eyes but flashing her a friendly smile.

"Oh, thank you!" Yang responded in exaggerated fashion, before dropping the act. She gave Jaune a sly look. "I _did_ wear it for you, but if you ask nicely I'll take it off for you too…"

"Right here in the restaurant?" Jaune asked back antagonistically, trying to burst Yang's bubble.

Yang gave Jaune a tiny shrug – just enough to generate some jiggle in _all_ the right places – and made a show of taking a sip from her glass of wine. Clumsily, she let a drop drip down and fall into the canyon of her cleavage just below the material of her dress, where it slowly traveled down unimpeded until it reached her belly button. Jaune's eyes, whether he meant to or not, followed the drop the whole way.

When he realized what he'd done, he looked back up to find Yang grinning at him, and his face went a little red.

"Y-You know, Blake warned me about this," Jaune let out, eyeing Yang suspiciously. "I'm beginning to think that I should have listened."

"Oh?" Yang cooed, feeling like a cat toying with its prey. "And what exactly did our Faunus friend warn you about?"

"The way she told it, you were planning on asking me out," Jaune stated evenly, much to Yang's disappointment. She wasn't able to read anything about how he felt about the subject from his voice. "She didn't exactly say that you were going to be this… obvious about it."

"Obvious about it?" Yang asked, grinning. "I haven't said _anything_ about dating yet."

"No, but I get the feeling that you're not just teasing me with comments like that one about your dress," Jaune accused plainly. Yang's heart flopped just a little bit; leave it to Jaune to stop dancing around and ruin her fun by making her come out and say it so early in the night.

"Us having screaming, ball-slapping sex immediately after dinner and us beginning to date are two completely unrelated things," Yang replied cryptically, barely able to stifle a laugh at the look on Jaune's face. _Sue her, she couldn't just come out and expressly say what she wanted without a __little_ _teasing._ "But you _are _right about that dress comment…"

Yang could see Jaune's mental faculties slowing down as he tried to process that. It was hard and a little embarrassing, but she made sure not to do anything that would make Jaune think that she was still teasing him. No coy sips of wine, no grins, no winks, not even a head tilt. She sat there and gave Jaune a small, genuine smile as she forced him to process what she meant.

"We should… probably talk about that dating thing," Jaune said finally and awkwardly, punting on the sex stuff. _For now, that is._ Yang wasn't leaving this restaurant without an answer, and she really didn't anticipate that Jaune would be able to say no. It wouldn't hurt to talk about the actual main reason she'd come to Argus first, though.

"Yes, I get it, I could do better," Yang teased, earning a flat look from Jaune. If nothing else, it reassured her that Jaune was not too awkward to banter with her. "What can I say, noodley blondes just really do it for me."

"Yang, can we be completely serious for a moment?"

The way Jaune said it caught Yang off-guard. He sounded… stressed? Confused? She couldn't place it, but she could tell that it would be shitty of her to say no, or to mess with him any further. If this really did have a shot at working out, they'd definitely need to have this conversation.

Yang Xiao Long, of all people, felt a little nervous for the first time in probably years. She gave Jaune a small, attentive nod in response to his question.

"Are you serious about this whole thing?" Jaune asked her plainly. He didn't sound upset or shocked by the idea, just… confused. Or maybe it was more accurate to say he wasn't certain if she was serious yet.

Yang rolled her eyes at the question, but it was more to deflect the attention than anything. Her cheeks warmed up just slightly at being put on the spot like this.

"Yup." Jaune looked at her slightly funny for such a glib answer to such a serious question, and she felt compelled to elaborate. "I'm not head over heels for you or anything silly like that. But I think I'm ready to settle down—" Yang paused for a moment, not liking how that sounded. It made it seem like this was something inevitable that she was coming to grips with, and that wasn't true. "I think I _want_ a quieter life now. It's just a matter of finding someone I'd like to do that with."

That was as plainly as Yang could put it. She'd kinda been work-shopping that reply for a few days now.

"It's too bad you didn't come around a few years sooner, huh?" Jaune asked, giving Yang almost a pitying look. "Back when Blake wanted to settle down?"

Yang gave Jaune a surprised look. Her gut instinct was to get defensive, but for the moment she held off on that, trusting Jaune not to take advantage of that vulnerability. "She told you about that?"

"She had to," Jaune dismissed with a soft smile, making it clear to her that he wasn't trying to press into what could be a touchy subject. "Otherwise I wouldn't have believed her when she warned me about you."

Yang rolled her eyes, silently appreciative that Jaune was looking to avoid the Blake topic. She'd be fine bringing it up – it wasn't like Yang didn't get along great with Sun and Blake now – but, _yeah_, that did sting a little in hindsight. Life was unfairly ironic sometimes. "Is it really _that_ hard to believe?"

"At the time, yes, yes it was," Jaune teased her slightly, before relaxing his shoulders and leaning back in his seat. "I… actually get it, though, I think. You do good work for this world by being its celebrity, but being a celebrity isn't fun. You don't know who's just in it for the perks. It's the same problem Weiss has."

Yang gave Jaune a relieved smile. This would be a lot easier if she didn't have to explain to Jaune how he ended up first on her list, and it also sounded like he wasn't insulted that he was her 'safest' pick. She'd have to thank Blake for helping out on that account. "You know that we all tried to set you and Weiss up first, right?"

"Seventeen-year-old me would have been thrilled," Jaune joked, shaking his head fondly at the memories. "Let me guess, she told you all to go to hell and mind your own business?"

"Nope. She totally threw you under the bus," Yang responded, grinning. She had Jaune's attention now. "Oh yeah, your best friend was the one who suggested Blake and the group fly out here and try to hook you up. Hell, she's the one that convinced me to give this a shot. Pretty sure she did it to keep us from finding someone for her."

"_Huh,_" was all Jaune could say to that, despite looking like there were several things he wanted to say at the same time. "That does sound like her."

"You're not mad at her for that?"

"Who, Weiss?" Jaune asked for confirmation. He thought about it for a moment when Yang nodded to confirm. "Nah. That sounds just like her, always scheming and plotting how to make everyone's life the best _she_ sees it can be. If I got mad at her for it now, then that would show I haven't been paying attention to her for the past decade."

Yang shrugged at that. It wasn't an awful point. Weiss was… a little manipulative. Remnant was better off with Weiss Schnee manipulating things than just about anyone else, but it still felt annoying from time to time. Yang had yelled at Weiss more than a few times to get her to butt out of private affairs, but both sides trusted the other too much to punish the other for it. That was just how Weiss was, they'd all come to find.

Silence fell between them for a few moments after that. Yang wasn't quite sure where things stood right now and took her time trying to decide what to say next. Jaune hadn't shut her down yet, but he was being cautious, which is what she both feared and suspected.

She was pretty sure she knew why, and dreaded dragging that subject up. She had to do it, though.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Jaune's voice caught her off-guard, but she made sure to hum her approval loudly enough for him to hear it.

"Why do you want to settle down?" Jaune asked, giving Yang probably one of the harder questions for her to answer. "Why now?"

_Oh boy, where did she start on that one?_ There were a million little things, but mostly, she was tired. Tired of waking up alone, tired of seeing her friends happier than she was, tired of running all over Remnant, tired of adventuring… She'd gotten everything she'd asked for from her life so far. As selfish as it sounded, now she just wanted something else. The difference was that this time, she wanted it to last.

There was a bigger – and easier – reason though.

"Nora's little girl," Yang answered plainly, with a genuine smile on her lips as she thought over little Pyrrha Ren once more. Just the mention of her brought a smile to Jaune's face, too. "I didn't realize how much I wanted that until I visited Kuroyuri. Not just a kid, but a family. What Ren and Nora have, or what Blake and Sun are about to have…"

"And the fact that your mother is still _technically_ a better mother than you only makes it worse," Jaune added snidely.

"I would be lying if I said that I don't feel guilty that Summer doesn't have any grandkids to her name yet," Yang answered a little solemnly, before letting a little bit of anger show in her eyes. "And yes, I'm _not_ going to let Raven outdo me."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "_Baby crazy._ That's what Nora said when I asked why you were settling down. She seemed convinced that you were coming here to get pregnant, with or without my permission."

They both laughed at that and Yang didn't correct him, just shaking her head at the notion. There was a reason Yang asked Blake to help her out, and not Nora. Honestly, she suspected Nora was pushing for someone else to have a kid so that they could do playdates. Nora wasn't subtle about wanting more kids, and that would be enough of an excuse to talk Ren into it.

"I'm not looking to rush into anything, so don't feel like I'm asking you to knock me up and tie me down immediately," Yang stated, making sure that she dispelled any misconceptions Nora might have caused. Jaune coughed into his fist awkwardly at her phrasing. "_With a ring_, jackass."

"I didn't say anything."

"Look, Jaune, I—" Yang trailed off a bit, having second thoughts that she had to force herself to ignore. "I don't need an answer immediately. I'm not rushing into anything and I don't want you to feel that way, and I also don't want you to think that I'm asking you to commit to something long term. I guess I just… want to know if you'd want to… just try it out. See if there's anything to it."

Yang was so glad that part was over, because it was a little harder for her to say than she'd anticipated. She was fully prepared for this to go poorly, but she didn't think it would. Yang honestly thought that, even though Jaune might be uncomfortable at first, he would give it a shot. That was all she wanted because that was all she needed. If Jaune agreed to just _try _something with her, then she was going to move mountains to make sure it worked. Maybe Nora was right about the '_crazy_' part, but if Jaune let her get a foot in the door, she was going to make both of their lives so much better for it. This was the last challenge in her life Yang had yet to surmount.

That all rode on his response here.

"I… I don't know, Yang," Jaune let out weakly, avoiding her eyes. Yang's stomach began to tighten. "I left for a reason. I don't think that we could make this work without dragging up some old wounds that I've left buried for years. And I'd hate for your sister to think you betrayed her for—"

"Fuck that," Yang cut him off aggressively, which for the first time tonight truly shocked Jaune into silence. "What Ruby said doesn't matter. You shouldn't let her affect your life anymore."

Jaune looked at her in utter confusion, and she couldn't blame anyone but herself for that. His voice came out accusatory and bitter, which hit Yang hard. "You agreed with her at the time."

Yang's wrist locked up and began to twitch the way it did when Yang was nervous or stressed. She fought it down under the table.

"We were grieving. He was _my_ uncle too!" Yang defended herself, getting a little worked up. The topic was a sore one for her, but not as much as it had been for Ruby or apparently for Jaune. "So when Ruby went off on you for letting one of his killers slip away, of course I was on her side. I was angry at everything!"

Jaune was silent, and she wasn't sure what that meant, but she had to get this out. She needed to be completely honest about it, even if it worked against what she was trying to. Jaune deserved that little from her, at least.

"It was stupid of me, okay? I don't think I really realized how much that had to have hurt you until you still hadn't come back a few years later." And she felt like shit for that. She had for a while now, whenever she thought about it for too long, which was why she never thought about it for too long. Yang had spent years trying not to dwell on it. "I'm sorry for that. Ruby crossed a line and I shouldn't have supported her when she did. Even though she won't apologize for it, I'm… I'm sorry that we did what we did. And that it's taken me this long to apologize."

"You can't be sorry," Jaune said softly.

Yang's stomach flopped at Jaune's words and she froze, hoping that she heard him wrong. "W-what?"

"You can't actually _be_ sorry," Jaune repeated a little louder, noticing Yang's reaction. His tone wasn't angry, though, which was the one thing that kept Yang from panicking. "You never even bothered to hear my side of the story. I never got to explain how she got away. You don't even know if Ruby was _right_. What if I ran away because I couldn't handle my failure, and everything Ruby said was true?"

"Jaune, that's not—"

"_That's not why I left_," Jaune was quick to alleviate the weird pit of guilt in her stomach. For a moment, she'd thought that he might actually feel that way, which would have been even worse than what she'd come here thinking. "But it's not like Ruby was just completely inaccurate. No matter what happened, I _did_ fail to stop Emerald from escaping. You still don't have closure for Qrow because of that."

"Stop defending her!" Yang raised her voice a little too loudly, smacking her fist down on the table. She could feel eyes on her and forced herself to calm down and wait for the attention to die down. "I don't care that Sustrai got away. We all knew that you didn't do that on _purpose_! There was no reason for Ruby to drag your insecurities into it, _none_. Weiss had told us just how bad of a place you were in before she helped you out of it. Ruby knew _exactly_ what it meant to you to accuse you of not being good enough. A-And I knew it too."

Yang's voice cracked there at the end.

"Yang, it's okay," Jaune tried to comfort her, which didn't make her feel any better. She already felt shitty, but she felt even shittier that _he_ was trying to console _her_ about it.

"It's not," she contradicted him plainly. "I feel like shit about it, and I've been avoiding this for years."

"Yang, seriously, it's okay," Jaune reaffirmed. "It doesn't bother me anymore. I moved on from it a long time ago. Did you know I've even spoken to Ruby since then?"

Yang looked up at Jaune surprised. Shocked, even.

"We haven't spoken much, obviously, and it was pretty awkward," Jaune admitted, "but we spoke, if only to say that we're not technically giving each other the silent treatment."

"She didn't apologize, did she?"

"She did," Jaune answered softly. Yang couldn't read his expression because she was utterly confused that Jaune had said yes.

"What? Why did…?" Yang fumbled her words as multiple questions battled in her mind. "_When?_"

"This was years ago at this point; maybe two or three years after I left," Jaune answered, his vision zoning out a bit as he recalled the memories. Yang was too shocked to say anything. She - _all_ of them - had thought that Ruby had still not reconciled with Jaune. That was why he stayed gone. It was why they fell apart. "She told me she shouldn't have said what she did or taken it out on me, and asked me if I would come back. I told her no."

"You… what?" Yang asked, struggling to process all of the new possibilities that this conversation had opened up. "_Why?_"

"There was nothing to go back to, and I didn't want to leave what I had," Jaune answered with a shrug. "Ironwood had already set me up in Argus and Weiss had me guarding something important here. She'd also told me that after I left, the teams mostly broke up anyways."

That was true. Most Beacon teams split up after graduation; they had all only stuck together so long because they had a mission. With that mission complete, they all had their own lives to pursue. Jaune leaving had provided a good time for everyone else to decide to do the same, albeit less dramatically.

"Then why hide from us for so long?"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "I'm _not_ hiding, Yang. Not on purpose, anyways; you all know how to get in touch with me." He held up his scroll to make a point. "If I was hiding from you, right now I'd be doing a pretty poor job of it. I've just been busy. We all have."

"That's it, then?" Yang asked tensely, though with a little hope in her voice. "We didn't fall away because of what I let Ruby say to you?"

"Almost everyone will fall apart from one another eventually; that's just how life works. It's _why _we fall apart that changes." Jaune paused, before looking Yang in the eye to reassure her. "No, Yang, that's not the reason why. It's not your fault."

Yang wasn't sure what to say, but she did feel her guilt lessening. Jaune may not be bothered by it anymore, but that didn't mean she was absolved. Even _Ruby_ had made things right before she did. What did that make her?

"Jaune, I want you to know that I'm _not_ saying this just to make this dating thing work," Yang started, unable to look Jaune in the eyes because it was hard enough to say this as it is. "I know you said it doesn't bother you, but I truly mean it when I say that I'm sorry we ran you off. I wish the teams had never fallen apart to begin with."

"I'll accept your apology, Yang," Jaune responded softly, taking a moment to think over her words before accepting them. It sounded like he didn't even _want _her to apologize for it – which would be fair; it took her over a decade, after all – but he accepted it for her sake. Yang did feel like a weight lifted off her shoulders, even if she didn't like that he was still trying to make her feel better. "…if you'll accept mine."

"Your—?"

"I'm sorry that I don't think I can take you up on your offer," Jaune said, not at all looking like he enjoyed letting her down easy. "I don't think a relationship would work, or that… I even want that right now."

"No, don't apologize for that," Yang dismissed with a flick of her hand, tired of Jaune being the one here trying to make her feel better. She wasn't putting on a show for him, either; Yang legitimately wanted him to realize that saying no was not going to crush her. "If it's not going to work, it's not going to work. I'm not gonna force you into something, especially if it drags up old wounds."

"It's not that, Yang, I promise," Jaune tried to reassure her, which actually did make her feel a little better. Yang still doubted that Jaune could truly forgive her for helping run him off, and that was just too hard to overcome. He may have been in a better place now, but she'd never blame him if he held it against her or Ruby, even if only privately. "I hate to use this cliché, but it's not you. If I was looking for a relationship, or hell, even if I was just open to the idea, I'd take you up on it."

"Well of course you would," Yang quipped, getting back to their usual lighthearted banter, "I'm amazing, after all."

"Mostly," Jaune agreed, though in a way that wouldn't just let her have the win. She'd expect nothing less. "I would offer to help you land the next guy on your list, but I find it unlikely that you'll be able to find a second person on Remnant unwilling to give it a try."

"Well, you never know," Yang responded, taking a sip of her wine. "I'm oh-for-one so far…"

Jaune didn't really have an answer to that, so he shrugged in agreement.

Yang let a few beats pass before she shifted gears.

"So," Yang leaned forward over the table, which did wonders to her bust and the angle Jaune had, "your place or my hotel?"

"Uh, Yang…?" Jaune fumbled, looking at her funny. "Didn't we _just_ decide not to do this?"

"No, we said we're not going to date," Yang explained with a smile that could probably only be described as naughty. "You said it yourself that you're not down for a relationship. That's fine. I can respect that. We don't have to commit to anything in order to have fun tonight. Just look me in the eyes and tell me that you're not down to get down on me." To make it harder to do that, Yang squeezed her arms inwards to bulge out at Jaune just a little. "I said look at my _eyes_, Jaune."

"That's not fair you and know it."

"Oh, I'm not upset," she purred. "I'm the one _offering_ the commitment-free sex, after all. Guys love commitment-free sex, right?"

"…generally speaking, yes…"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you've been too distracted by this outfit to try to convince me that you're not interested in tearing it off of me," Yang said coyly, looking Jaune dead in the eyes with a nasty bedroom look as she did so. She could physically _see_ him struggling to resist. It wasn't a matter of desire on either of their parts, that much was certain. "And _yes_, that's why I wore it."

_Well, that, and Yang wanted to be able to brag that she'd left a hundred thousand lien designer dress to wrinkle on his floor._ She could already hear Blake shaking her head when she learned about that.

"Yang, don't take this the wrong way, but why are you so… excited for this?" Jaune asked, clearly not sure how to characterize the situation. "We're friends. Are you sure that you want to do _this_?"

"Oh come on, we're both adults here, Jaune. You're acting like the kid I used to tease back in Beacon." Yang laughed when Jaune blushed a little at that point, too. "Besides, do you think that _I_, of all people, would get shy or awkward around someone after spending the night with them?"

Jaune opened his mouth to answer that, and Yang grinned when he shut it. She'd known there was no way that Nora hadn't blabbed about a threesome or five with Blake and Sun. Even if she hadn't, Jaune at least knew that she and Blake were still close friends, despite their past relationship. And honestly, she was _Yang Xiao Long_. Free-spirited and adventurous almost defined her, or at least her persona. Even if Jaune knew her well enough to know that some of that was a front, not _all_ of it was.

Jaune was running out of excuses. He very clearly _wanted_ Yang on a physical level. All she had to do was break through his excuses. She was betting that if she convinced him that it would be a secret she took to the grave, his last concerns would melt away.

"You're not trying to trick me into dating you so that I can keep having sex with you, are you?" Jaune asked, giving Yang a slight mistrusting look. "The old '_the first one is free_' strategy?"

Yang laughed a little nervously at the accusation.

"I mean, I'll be happy if that happens, but I promise not to push it. This isn't a trick, Jaune, just a treat," Yang shot down the idea, laughing as she did so. "Look, you want the truth? You deserve what I'm offering."

"Okay, now you've truly lost me," Jaune replied, giving her a blank expression. There was a bit of a grin belying it. "The dating thing I could at least understand. You're looking to settle down and I'm just boring enough for it to work."

"It wasn't about you being bor—"

"But," Jaune cut her off, grinning that she'd bit on his joke, "I literally can't imagine what about me makes you want to repopulate Remnant."

Yang rolled her eyes. Of course _Jaune Arc_ would be oblivious to how close he'd come to being ridden to death in that hangar after that fight. They were both lucky that when Yang had wrapped her legs around his head during the fight, that Jaune hadn't drowned.

"Jaune, I haven't had a fight as exhilarating as our spar since the day we brought down Salem's fortress," Yang explained, her voice low as she leaned over the table to whisper to him. She _knew_ he'd remember what fight she was talking about, since it was the one where Yang put Cinder down for good. "It has been _years_ since someone has made me feel that alive. What sort of person would I be if I didn't reward you for that?"

"Oh, so it's _just_ a reward?"

"You're impossible, you know that?" Yang let out in a frustrated huff, throwing her arms into the air slightly. She couldn't pout for long and broke out into a soft giggle. "Trust me, I wanted it _bad_ after that spar. You're lucky I didn't impregnate you in front of your men."

"Wouldn't… I be the one to impregnate you…?"

"Do you really want to find out?" Yang threatened, cracking a smile at him. "Look, I'll make this very simple. After that spar, I'm probably going to fuck _something_ tonight. _Hard_. I happen to think that you deserve the night of a lifetime after giving me a fight like that. That math is pretty simple, Jaune_._"

He went silent. He stared Yang down in uncertainty for a long moment.

"I… really don't have any _possible_ reason to say no, do I?"

"Depends," Yang answered coyly. "You're straight, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Then no, there is no possible reason for you to say no."

Jaune held her gaze for a few more moments. Nothing was said as Jaune looked like he was trying to find some way out of this. Yang wasn't sure why he'd want out, but knew that there was no way he'd say no now.

And then he gave in, giving her a smile to let her know she'd won him over.

Jaune held his arm out, flagging down their waiter. "I think we're ready for the check."

* * *

"So what are the odds they're having sex right now?" Sun called out to his fiancée from across their room. "It's gotta be in the 90% range, right?"

Sun could almost _feel_ Blake roll her eyes at him from the bathroom. It helped that the little hallway mirror of their hotel room gave him a good angle to peer into the bathroom, where he could see Blake in the bathroom mirror.

_Well, it's certainly higher than his chances of having sex tonight._

"I'm not sure," Blake called back.

"This is Yang we're talking about. There isn't a straight, unmarried man alive who wouldn't say yes to her." Sun waited a beat, and continued when Blake didn't cut him off. "Hell, there aren't many married men who wouldn't either."

_That_ earned Sun an annoyed glance from Blake, and he gave her a dumb grin. She rolled her eyes and continued whatever it was she was doing to get ready for bed.

After another minute, Blake flicked out the lights and made her way over to their bed, assuming her usual position of curled up in his arms as a little spoon.

Sun laid his head on top of Blake's gently, leaning up to whisper in her ear. "So are you _sure_ you don't want to do anything tonight?"

"In a hotel room?" Blake asked incredulously, making absolutely no move to do anything.

"We've done crazier things in a hotel room," Sun protested, but without putting much hope or effort into it.

"I'm too tired for any of that tonight. Ask me again in the morning."

Oh, he will. Sun accepted the answer for now because Blake wasn't the only one exhausted. They'd been traveling around Remnant for a few weeks now, with the stop in Argus just one of many. He and Blake were shopping for houses, and while Blake preferred to settle down on Menagerie near her parents, nothing was off-limits. They'd traveled over most of Remnant in two weeks and the flights, changes in location, changes in weather, and just general hassle of travel did wear you out.

"Besides," Blake added on, "we only did crazy things in a hotel when Yang was involved."

"Oh, is someone agreeing that threesomes are still on the table even after the wedding?"

Blake growled her displeasure at Sun's joke, presumably too comfortable to swat at him.

Sun titled his head up and blow air into Blake's cat ear, causing them to flatten down out of irritation.

"I'll make you sleep on the floor."

"No, you won't," Sun called her bluff, pulling her in a little tighter to his chest. He meant it to mean that Blake wouldn't be able to escape his arms to force him out, but it ended up being that Blake was far too tired and comfortable to carry through on that threat. Right now, if Sun slept on the floor, she was probably coming with him.

Instead, Sun nuzzled his face into the side of Blake's neck in his usual spot and began to let sleep take him.

"Do you really think they'll work?" Blake mumbled, stirring Sun from being _so close_ to falling asleep.

"Huh? Who?"

"Jaune and Yang," Blake elaborated, shifting a little to be able to talk to Sun more clearly. "Do you think that Yang's going to pull it off?"

Sun pretended to think about it, but was really hoping that he would fall asleep in the next few seconds. He was tired of avoiding this topic because he didn't like keeping secrets from Blake, even if it was just keeping Jaune's missing ring tan line to himself out of respect.

"Sun?"

"I mean, I think Yang's going to pull her clothes off, _unlike someone I know_."

"Still not happening tonight."

Sun rolled his eyes. His fiance's stubbornness was both her best and worst quality. "I wouldn't be all that shocked if they have sex, but something tells me that if Jaune has avoided us all this long, he's not going to want to start a relationship with one of us."

Blake went silent. Sun knew she wasn't asleep, just thinking. They'd talked about that specific part enough for it to be unsaid that they both regretted how Jaune left but didn't hold that against him. Sun was the only one willing to come right out and say that it was Ruby's fault, but he also understood what it felt like to be a sidekick to Team RWBY in a way the others didn't. The coolest sidekick Remnant had ever seen and a sidekick with the most badass fiancée on Remnant, but still a sidekick.

It never bothered him, but he understood how it could eat away at Jaune like it had.

"I don't think it will work either," Blake let out finally, quietly. She'd brought the topic up ever since they'd had lunch with Jaune, but she never gave her opinion on it. Sun could tell that she had only just now finally come to that conclusion. "Something was… off about Jaune."

"Something's been off about Jaune since Pyrrha died," Sun said sarcastically, though he didn't mean it as morbidly as it came out. "I don't think this is a new development. He's always been a bit…"

Sun trailed off, not sure how to say it, but confident that Blake knew what he meant. Weiss told the group years ago what demons Jaune struggled with, and hindsight being what it was, that cleared up a lot. A man who wanted nothing more than to be a hero, who was seemingly cursed to fail as a hero and succeed only as a sidekick. He'd lost Pyrrha, nearly got Weiss killed, and let one of Qrow's killers escape. Jaune had always just seemed to hide a slight sadness to him, like a weight on his shoulders. When you lived just out of reach of your dream for your whole life, it wasn't hard for Sun to see how that would drive you crazy.

"That's the thing, though: he _wasn't_," Blake stressed, knowing what Sun meant and contradicting it. "He wasn't depressed like he always was, not when we saw him."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Sun asked.

"I… guess, yes," Blake admitted sheepishly.

"Look, Weiss has kept in touch with him over the years to keep an eye on him. Maybe getting away from everyone was just what he needed." Sun kept his voice low. He didn't like the implication that _they_ \- Jaune's team, Jaune's friends, and Jaune's only support system - were toxic to Jaune, but the results stood on their own.

"That's not it," Blake announced with certainty. "There's something else going on here."

_Yeah, and you didn't see it at lunch._ Sun wanted to roll his eyes. Blake was acting like they were hunting down White Fang cells again.

"Oh really? How would you know that?"

"Call it a Huntress' intuition," Blake explained a little smugly. "I would understand if you haven't picked up on it."

"Are you saying I'm bad at my job, or that I'm not _Huntress_ enough to know what's going on here?" Sun asked cheekily. He enjoyed it when Blake got a little cocky, if only because Sly Blake was one of the sexiest Blakes he'd ever experienced. "Because you haven't ever complained about my Huntsman parts before, but you _did_ date Yang first, so…"

Blake didn't dignify that with a response, mostly because it was a joke that Sun had worn out. She didn't even blush about it now.

"He's hiding _something_," Blake announced, pushing herself up into a sitting position, much to Sun's disappointment. A few moments later, her scroll lit up her face.

"What, you think _Jaune_ is hiding something?"

"Not something bad, but…" Blake trailed off, already focusing on whatever she was using her scroll for. "I get that he moved away, but we didn't hear _any_ news about him? He said he ran for mayor! You'd think we'd at least hear about that."

Sun had to give her that point. "Maybe he just didn't want us making fun of his campaign videos."

"_Someone_ should have come across it eventually," Blake pushed. Sun gave up on arguing with her and let her do her thing. "Here. I can't find any search results about that election, or even a news article about Jaune's candidacy."

"So?"

"_So_," Blake snapped at him, "a member of Team JNPR running for office would at least get a national news story. But there are no search results. Do you know what that means?"

"That you're bad at searching for things?"

"_It means_," Blake snapped again, which he deserved this time, "that there's an embargo in place."

"Embargo?" Sun asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes after giving up on Blake dropping this any time soon. "Like, what they did with Mountain Glenn?"

"Exactly. There's something going on. I don't believe for a second that leaving his team made Jaune suddenly find some sort of fulfillment he'd been missing since Pyrrha died. This embargo just complicates things."

Sun grinned at Blake, waiting for her to look over at him. "What?" she asked eventually.

"I know something you doooonnnn't~~" Sun singsonged to annoy her.

Blake gave him a flat look. "Do you care to share?"

"I don't know. I'm awfully tired and we're in a hotel, so I don't feel like it."

Sun laughed when she smacked his chest with the back of her hand out of irritation.

"Well, I may not have a Huntress' intuition, but apparently I'm better at noticing details."

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Just think back to our lunch with Jaune and try to figure out what clue you missed," Jaune teased Blake, loving the way her brow furrowed at him. Blake was adorable when she was annoyed with him. "I'm sure you'll get it eventually."

"Sun, I swear that if you're hiding something big-"

"It's nothing big," Sun reassured her. Honestly, Sun would prefer not to reveal his suspicions of Jaune being recently divorced. If he really had recovered his time away, it was probably from the marriage he hid from them. That would only make it hurt worse that it had ended, and Sun didn't want to drag that up. It was beginning to appear like Blake was going to drag it up anyways. "But I'm not just going to make it easy on you."

Blake glared at him, before letting out a sharp breath and forcing herself to drop the topic, for now.

"Fine, I'll play along. In the meantime, I'll see what I can do about getting around this embargo."

"Uh, _duh_: ask Weiss," Sun let out, flicking Blake's cat ear gently. He loved the way it twitched almost as much as Blake hated it when he did that. "Jeez, so much for all your Huntressy intuition."

"Dumbass," Blake slapped his chest again. "Think for just a moment."

"_Nah._"

She slapped Sun again, making him laugh.

"How do you think Jaune got an international embargo put on his name?" Blake asked, giving Sun a look. "We don't even have embargos about _Salem_ anymore. I can't think of anything that we still have embargoed, not since we pushed back the Grimm. How do you think he got that embargo?"

"Is this a trick question, or…?"

"Who is Jaune's closest friend?" Blake asked, giving him a tone of voice that meant she thought very lowly of Sun at that moment. She was treating him like a kid.

Which was probably fair.

"_Oh_."

"Weiss would have had to get that embargo pushed through using her SDC connections," Blake elaborated now that Sun was on the same page. "So if we asked Weiss for help getting around the embargo…"

"She'd be able to do it really easily?"

Sun actually knew better than to suggest that, but the frustration it caused Blake was too good to pass up.

"If Jaune's hiding this from us, and Weiss _helped_ him, then she wouldn't help us," Blake explained. "She would just tell us she couldn't find out anything about an embargo."

"So who do we go to, Goodwitch?" Sun asked, trying to think of the next-best person to get around an embargo.

"As Beacon's headmistress, she could probably get the info, but I don't know if she'd agree to be discrete," Blake said, mulling over the idea. "She also may not care to get involved. It's not like she isn't busy with actual problems."

"Ruby?"

Blake gave Sun a look like he was stupid.

"What, she's deputy headmistress! She could totally sneak into Goodwitch's office and find out for us!"

"Yes, Sun, let's get the _one person on Remnant that Jaune holds a grudge against_ and ask her to help us spy on Jaune," Blake drawled.

"Oh."

"_Oh_," Blake mocked him, as she started dialing in her scroll.

"Who are you calling?"

"Ren. With his post at Kuroyuri, he might have some connections he can use, and we know he'd be interested in helping us find out. Plus, he can be discrete."

"Are we sure he and Nora aren't, uh, up to anything right now?"

Blake went stiff and the call continued to dial, before she very calmly ended it. "I think I'll send him a text."

* * *

**Originally, there was one more, uh, scene between Yang and Jaune in this chapter. It was cut for, uh, wholesomeness issues.**

**If only I had an alternative account to post such a scene on...**

* * *

( i do. it's _ikedawg34_. have fun )


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: ****If you missed it, there's a semi-canon scene on the account that I totally do not use to upload smut with (Ikedawg34) that takes place after Jaune and Yang's dinner. It has... minor plot relevance. Consider it more a plot tie-in...**

**Now, on to the chapter.**

_**This is going to be fun.**_

* * *

Yang woke up in an unfamiliar bed in an absolute mess of covers and hair, and notably, no clothes. This wasn't exactly her first time waking up like this – honestly, she'd gotten a little bit used to it in her time since 'breaking up' with Blake – so coming to this realization didn't really jolt Yang awake.

After a few moments, she started to remember the night before. Yang had dragged Jaune to the hotel suite she was staying at, which meant Yang actually did wake up in her own bed. Yang splayed out in the bed, trying to feel around for another occupant.

She came up empty.

Yang sat up in the bed and peered around through the gaps in her wild mane, and didn't spot Jaune anywhere nearby. _Damn._ She remembered their dinner conversation and that Jaune wasn't really interested in starting anything, and she really did almost have to drag him to that hotel suite, but deep down, Yang had had a plan. A stupid, naïve, and kind of degrading plan towards both of them, but a plan nonetheless: give Jaune the night of his life, and see if he stuck around a little longer. All Yang needed was a foot in the door, and she'd gotten that when Jaune finally agreed to spend the night with her.

Of all the reasons for her plan to fail, Yang never would have expected that Jaune would be the one to give _her_ the night of her life. That… that had come out of nowhere. She was honestly a little embarrassed by how thoroughly she'd been… well, she had to be honest with herself: Yang had been tamed last night. She couldn't describe why, but everything Jaune had done to her last night had felt _different_, and it wasn't like Yang was lacking for experience in that department. Even his hands on her hips had felt just a little bit strange, in a way that sent chills down Yang's spine at the time, and sent them even now as she recalled the memories.

Her plan backfired even harder than she thought was possible, because now she was alone _and_ really wanted a round two she wasn't likely to get.

_Oh well_, she shrugged to herself, rising out of bed. Yang was surprised to find that she wasn't really sore at all. Sore from sex wasn't really something that happened to Yang that much, but she'd been the epitome of '_dicked down'_ the night before. Yang, of all people, found herself blushing at some of those memories. _How the hell was __Jaune_ _that good?_

Yang collected her things, including a very expensive dress that had been crumpled up and tossed aside at some point, and cleaned the place up a little bit. She'd be leaving Argus that afternoon and despite intentionally cultivating a little bit of a diva status, Yang didn't want to make housekeeping have to clean up after her mess. She put the covers back in at least recognizable places so that no one would walk in and immediately realize she'd gotten nailed on that bed. And honestly, her pride was a little wounded that she'd been outdone by Vomit Boy of all people, to the point where he slipped out without even caring to get some more of her in the morning. She was Yang Xiao Long, after all; Sun and Blake combined had never outdone her like that.

She couldn't bring herself to be truly upset, though. She wore a slight smile as she went to take a shower. If nothing else, she'd made a good memory.

Her scroll rang while she was on her second of four lathers for her hair, which was just as hard to wash as you would think. It was Blake, and Yang accepted the call, though she held her thumb over her scroll camera to block any view.

"What's up, pussycat?" Yang answered in her usual, flippant way, knowing it annoyed Blake.

"…_did you bring your scroll into the shower again?"_ Blake asked suspiciously. She and Sun were sitting up against the headboard of what looked like a hotel room. They couldn't see Yang on the screen but the sound of water running was hard to miss.

"Did you seriously try calling me when you _know_ what my plans for last night were?" Yang asked equally as incredulously. She hadn't been shy about what her intentions for the visit with Jaune were. They _both_ knew. "For all you know, Jaune could be in the shower with me."

To try to sell it, Yang faked a moan. Blake didn't take the bait. "_I'm sure if that were the case, you wouldn't have brought the scroll with you."_

"We could be making a video."

"_Uh huh."_

With a roll of her eyes, Yang dropped the act and removed her thumb from the camera. "Fine, just me."

"_Nice tits,"_ Sun called out cheekily, which earned him a soft smack from his fiancée.

"Hey, you're not married yet. I'm still on the table for both of you," Yang teased. Sun and especially Blake had seen plenty of Yang over the years, so she couldn't care less if they saw her in the shower. They didn't seem to care either. Yang propped up the scroll on a shampoo rack on the far end of the shower where it would be away from the water stream, because she really needed both hands to wash her hair; that process took long enough normally and she didn't feel like delaying it. "Ooh, we totally need to have one last threesome before you two tie the knot. We gotta go out on a high-note!"

She'd intentionally spared them from a '_going out with a Yang'_ pun… for now. She knew they both enjoyed a rough _Yanging_.

"_Agreed,"_ Sun chimed in, cutting his eyes at Blake. Yang could tell he was doing it solely to prod the Faunus into a reaction.

"_Yang, no. Don't push it," _Blake's voice shot the idea down, though she wasn't very committed to it by the sounds of it.

"Fine," Yang acquiesced, or at least pretended to. "Who says Blake has to be involved? _Hey Sun,_ can I get an invite to your bachelor party?"

"_Invite? I want you to plan it!"_

Joking or not, Yang was absolutely going to take him up on that offer. Blake's face paled when she realized what might happen if Remnant's hottest bisexual threw a bachelor party for her soon-to-be husband. "_No! Absolutely not!"_

"Well, you gotta let us do _something_," Yang pleaded, bending over to try to rinse the soap out of the underside of her hair. She had to turn her backside to the camera to face the water stream, but she didn't _have _to spread her legs quite as wide as she did. Yang was nothing if not a tease, though, and if it would annoy Blake, she was all for it. "Come on, try to tell me you aren't thinking about it now."

"…_we'll talk about it later,"_ Blake deflected, which was totally a yes. Yang was already starting to plan some things out in her head. "_You're deflecting, though. I take it there's a reason Jaune's not in the shower with you?"_

"_Oh man, did Yang get pumped and dumped?" _Sun asked cheekily. Yang didn't need to look at the screen to know he was giving her a shit-eating grin.

Yang hesitated from answering for a moment, wondering whether she should tell them about her and Jaune's evening at all. Jaune clearly wasn't looking to settle down, and she wondered just how much of that went back to how things ended when he left, despite his assurances to the contrary. It had taken her a lot to convince him just to fool around, and even then, she wasn't sure if he really wanted to until he unleashed on her in her suite.

"Nope," Yang answered, popping the '_p'_ sound. She knew Jaune wouldn't want her spilling any details, and she didn't see a reason she couldn't let him have that.

She could start to see the gears turning on Blake and Sun's faces when she turned back to the camera and started up her third lather. "_Is he still there?"_

Yang shook her head no, and the grin on Sun's face grew exponentially. "_You couldn't even land Jaune?"_

She would hear that for a long time, Yang could already tell. _Oh well._ Better that than explain that her plan fell apart because Jaune had fucked her legs to jelly. _That_ she would never live down.

"He wasn't interested in trying out dating. Said it wasn't because of how things ended, but… I mean..."

Blake jumped in to her rescue. "_I can't say I'm surprised."_

There was an edge to Blake's voice that Yang couldn't place. It wasn't malicious, but there was clearly an angle to it. The way Blake cut her eyes and stared off to the side only made it more suspicious.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yang asked, making sure to keep her voice playful so as to not sound threatening.

"_Just Blake's conspiracy theory,"_ Sun jumped in, clearly ribbing Blake if the way she immediately reacted was any indication.

"_It's not a conspiracy – okay, __technically__, it is a theory that there exists some sort of conspiracy."_

"You guys lost me," Yang stated plainly, before turning back around and rinsing her lather again. "Conspiracy? _Jaune?_"

"_Yeah, Blake thinks he's hiding a deep, dark secret, and that he's getting help covering it up from his true lover in the night, Weiss."_

Yang almost choked on a laugh at that, and she could hear the soft _thwap_ as Blake swatted Sun again.

"_Look, did you know that Jaune ran for mayor a year or two ago?"_ Blake's voice cut in, trying to be serious.

"No?"

"_You wouldn't,"_ Blake stated strongly. "_Apparently there's an embargo on it. I have Ren looking into it too, but I doubt he'll find much."_

"Why not ask Weiss?" Yang asked, turning back around and casually starting her fourth and final lather, at least until it was time to condition. _The number of innocent coconuts that had to die to make enough conditioner over the years…_

Sun gave Blake a funny look that told Yang he'd asked the same question, and Blake glared him down. "_Because Weiss is the most obvious person to have __put_ _the embargo in place."_

Yang shrugged. That made enough sense for her. "So what's your plan to bust Jaune's deep dark secret?"

Blake sighed, putting her face into her palms, fed up with both her and Sun, who gave each other victory grins. "_I don't think he's hiding anything bad, not if Weiss is involved. But they're up to something."_

"_And Blake is nosey enough to have to find out."_

Another soft _thwack_. Blake sure enjoyed doing that, it seemed. That gave Yang some ideas for that bachelor party…

"Are you going to drag it out of him?" Yang asked, only mildly curious what it was. She'd been aware that there were some backdoor dealings with General Ironwood to get Jaune appointed as commander at Argus and even more to negotiate Argus' gifting to Mistral, so Yang figured there wasn't anything all that exciting going on. Anytime backdoor dealings were involved, there was an 80% chance Weiss was involved. If those dealings involved Atlas, a 95% chance, and Yang trusted Weiss enough to not really care either way.

Still, gossiping was fun, especially if it helped distract Sun and Blake away from Yang's one-night stand.

Blake let out another sigh. She clearly wasn't trying to sound so hostile or aggressive towards Jaune, despite Yang and Sun's pretending that she was. "_At this point, if Ren doesn't find anything, then I think Sun and I will just bring it up directly to Weiss when we see her in Atlas this weekend."_

Yang rolled her eyes once she'd turned around to rinse her last lather. Blake continued to insist that she and Sun were looking for houses all over Remnant to see where they wanted to raise their future kids, but both Yang and Sun both knew they'd end up in Menagerie. There was no way Blake would _not_ have any future kids grow up more than five minutes away from their grandparents. It was just easier to let Blake have her way here, for both of them.

Well, if nothing else, Blake's not too concerned about it, if she's just going to ask Weiss about it directly. Yang sorta hoped it was true, though. _Things last night would have been steamier if Jaune was hiding a deep, dark secret,_ Yang thought with another eye-roll. Then again, it wasn't like she had needed any help getting off with Jaune, numerous times. She _still_ wasn't sure what had been different about him, but she was pretty sure she'd broken a personal record.

"Any chance you guys can have me on a call for that conversation?"

"_Only if you wear clothes for it,"_ Blake snipped.

Yang pretended to think it over, earning an eye-roll from Blake.

"_Now, let's not be too hasty or anything,"_ Sun cut in. "_I think Yang can decide that for herself."_

He was lucky Blake was smiling along with the joke too much to want to hit him now. She'd finally given in.

"Fine, I'll wear clothes for that," Yang gave in, before taking her arms and squeezing her boobs together to bulge them out a little. "I wouldn't want to make Weiss jealous or anything."

They both laughed, but Yang noticed the eyes of one of them stared at her tits a lot longer than the other's did. And it wasn't Sun. _Oh yeah, that send-off is totally happening._

* * *

The new main offices of the Schnee Dust Corporation under Weiss and Winter's joint control retained the pale blue colors associated with the corporation, but with a lot of crimson supplementing it. Blake and Yang often teased Weiss that the color change was secretly an admission of Weiss' undying love for Ruby, even if they knew that she'd picked it up from her maternal grandfather. That was the price you paid for deciding to stay single: your teammates had free reign to tease you about it.

Blake hadn't ever thought there was anything to the jokes, but Yang hadn't always been so certain. The fact that Weiss and Jaune had grown so close since Haven and had never started anything was suspicious, but hardly conclusive. If there _had _been anything between the two partners, then Weiss had long-since been beaten to the punch, as Ruby and Oscar were continuing a long string of off-again on-again affairs. Even with Ozma promising to retire into the background and let Oscar have control, things were awkward sometimes. Oscar couldn't help but be affected by having millennia of memories in his head, and it could strain the relationship to think about just how many of those memories are of previous vassals loving different women. Often, Ruby just needed a break, and focusing on her role as Beacon's deputy headmistress provided that. Oscar's role as an assistant professor at the same school was both a blessing and a curse in that regard.

Not that Weiss was lying when she claimed to be too busy to settle down anyways. The SDC's reputation was only saved by the fact that Weiss and Winter performed a very hostile takeover, and immediately reformed it from the ground up. In the first few months, the SDC hemorrhaged lien as Weiss spent money furiously to improve labor conditions, benefits, and charitable endeavors, most of which were suggested by Blake's own dad.

Under any other circumstances, this would have backfired. Yet with the Grimm threat crippled and all of humanity deciding to make a massive push to expand territory while Salem was incapacitated, dust demand for industrial use spiked drastically. Suddenly, the SDC was the charitable, responsible company led by the same people who defeated Salem, and it was now the greatest asset to the territorial expansion of humanity. The SDC definitely spent more money, but it was firmly profitable.

Plus, it wasn't inspiring any more misguided Faunus to become terrorists.

"I knew you guys were going to be in Atlas, but I didn't expect you to want to come here," Weiss conversed warmly from behind the desk of her corner office. It wasn't as grand as Jacque Schnee's former office, but it was impressive in its own right. That had been intentional. "I would have cleared my schedule to make it to dinner if you'd asked."

"We know. Blake's just being dramatic," Sun cut in, earning him a quick glare from Blake. He wasn't even being subtle about how Yang was quietly listening via scroll call in Sun's lap.

"Oh? Does it have anything to do with you trying to record me?" Weiss asked, giving Sun a knowing look. She sounded bemused more than annoyed.

"Bingo," Sun confirmed shamelessly, holding up the scroll. Yang waved at Weiss, and the ice queen rolled her eyes and gave her friend a smile. SDC CEO or not, Weiss was still their same Weiss deep down. Seeing her friends brought a warm smile to her face that nothing else ever did.

"You know, I could have just had Yang's call put up on the big monitor," Weiss offered, "unless you want me to pretend like I don't notice."

"_It's fine, this shouldn't take long anyways. Get on with it, Blake,"_ Yang's voice projected out from the scroll.

Blake took a breath to settle herself and collect her thoughts. Of course Sun and Yang would hang her out like that, leaving her to do it all by herself.

"Is there anything going on with Jaune?" Blake asked, cutting through any pretense and just coming out and saying it.

"Going on with Jaune in what way?" Weiss asked, looking to clarify the question. She didn't sound like she was dodging it. In fact, she sounded very open about it.

"He's different than what I remember. He's… happier, or at least not as sad. Does that make sense?"

Weiss didn't answer immediately. Her lips pulled into a thin line. She knew _something_. "It does."

Blake almost elbowed Sun on the spot. So much for him insisting that Blake was just making all of this up.

"We know he's hiding… something," Blake continued cautiously. "Jaune wouldn't just leave his friends after a… a bad falling out and then magically heal on his own. _And we're not upset about that_," Blake felt she needed to explicitly state that part, because Sun looked like he was going to if she didn't. Weiss did not even appear as if she would have questioned Blake's intentions. "It's good that he's gotten better. Great, even. But it feels like he's hiding something from us."

"What makes you say that?" Weiss asked cautiously. It almost reminded Blake of Ozpin, with how she fished to find out what Blake knew before answering the question.

"_The embargo you put into place on him,"_ Yang accused plainly. Blake shot her a furious look for undermining her and just throwing away their leverage, but Yang was not unaware of what she was doing. "_Blake, come on. It's __Weiss__. Just cut to the chase."_

Blake let out a huff and looked up to find Weiss smirking at her softly. How Blake put up with both Yang and Sun was beyond her.

"Jaune let it slip that you had him run for mayor once – during our visit with him that was _your_ idea, mind you," Blake threw that part in as it only just now dawned on her. Now that she thought about it, Weiss had a hand in a lot of this. "There are no official records of that run online, which means someone had to get the national governments to agree to an embargo. Jaune couldn't have done that by himself, and he already let slip that running was your idea, so…"

Weiss let out a small laugh and threw her hands in the air in a mock-surrender. "Oh, you caught us."

"Please don't tell me there's an actual conspiracy here," Sun groaned. "Blake's going to be insufferable if she was right about all of this."

Yang's laughter played over the scroll as the backdrop to another side-glare Blake gave Sun, but Weiss interrupted before things got out of hand.

"There _is_ a conspiracy, but you're going to be disappointed by it. It's not necessarily about Jaune," Weiss confirmed, smiling at her old friends' antics. "Truth be told, there's an embargo on Jaune's run for office – and any other news stories focusing on Jaune – because he asked for it as part of our… negotiations."

Sun took the bait. "Negotiations for what?"

"First, I need your word that this isn't going to make its way back to Ruby or Oscar."

"_What? Why?"_

"It's nothing bad—" Weiss cut in to reassure them, just as Blake was about to say something, "—but I don't want them to feel like I'm stepping on their toes. Because I completely am."

"Yeah sure, we'll keep it quiet," Blake agreed, though she fully intended to fill in Ren and Nora, since they had tried to help earlier in the week. From there… well, Nora was a liability they'd worry about later.

Weiss leaned back in her chair and took a breath to collect her thoughts. She looked Blake dead in the eyes and grinned. "I tried to buy the Argus base."

Everyone stared at Weiss dumbly for a moment. She almost sounded like the spoiled kid they'd all first met at Beacon. '_How much is this military base? I'll have my daddy buy it.'_

"That's the reaction Jaune gave me when I pitched the plan to him," Weiss said with a soft laugh at their expressions. "He told me to my face that I'd finally gone full Schnee. I think I hit him for that."

"_What do you need a military base for?"_ Yang asked incredulously.

"I'm kind of with Jaune," Blake tacked on carefully. The insinuation she was about to make wasn't one that she would use lightly. "That's really starting to veer into Jacque Schnee territory."

"I wasn't going to build a SDC military base, or should I say I am not building one," Weiss dismissed their concern without any offense. "I want to take advantage of the reduced Grimm activity to start a new type combat school. We have four that already focus primarily on combating the Grimm. I want to train some of the next generation to be on guard for… the human element. In the end, it wasn't the Grimm that pushed us to our limits, after all."

An image of Ruby's uncle came to everyone's mind, which was fitting given that his death at Emerald and Mercury's hands was the catalyst that saw Jaune split off. It was failing to capture or kill Emerald Sustrai that made Ruby go off on Jaune, after all, and he and Blake had been sent to respond to a sighting only days after they had killed Qrow. Not that they wouldn't have been labeled as international terrorists for their work for Salem, but it was personal at that point.

Blake had run Mercury through with Gambol Shroud. Emerald was the only one still at large to this day. By now, she was probably long gone, but Ruby still held a grudge. About once every few months, Ruby would take off from Beacon to hunt down another lead that Weiss had managed to uncover. By now, any trails they had were long gone, but that didn't stop Ruby from trying to avenge her uncle.

"Why do we need to hide this from Oscar, or Ruby?" Sun asked.

"Because I pegged Jaune as—"

Weiss was interrupted as Yang snorted at the phrasing.

"I pegged Jaune as the perfect man to run it. What he's doing right now in the transition while we secure funding and start planning renovations is a trial run." Weiss turned to face the scroll with Yang directly. "How would you say they performed, little miss gambler?"

"_He told you about that?"_ Yang's voice escalated, with a hint of embarrassment.

Weiss smirked. "He told me quite a few things."

"Yeah, like how Yang struck out with Jaune?" Sun egged Yang on cheekily. For once, Blake appreciated that about him, mostly because it wasn't aimed at her.

Weiss tilted her head curiously and gave Yang an interesting look. "Indeed."

"_They're good," _Yang interjected, getting back on topic before whatever _that_ meant could be explored. "_Jaune's trainees, I mean. They're not as talented of prospects as we were, but they work together really well. __Really_ _well." _

"You can see why I wanted Jaune for the position," Weiss said with a tight nod. "He also brings a different philosophy to fighting than Ruby or Oscar. Jaune is… to coin a phrase, a vicious defender. There aren't any lengths that I think Jaune wouldn't go to in order to protect his charge, and if that could rub off on his understudies, it could be very useful in putting down any of Salem's lieutenants, if and when she recovers."

"And the reason you don't want Oscar and Ruby finding out?" Blake prompted.

"The last thing I need is Ruby feeling like I'm choosing Jaune over her by making him a headmaster when she's still Glynda's deputy," Weiss answered, letting a little exhaustion show. It was a more thoughtful and simple answer than Blake had expected. "Plus, Ozma might take exception to my efforts to secure the future without his approval. It's an argument I'd rather have later than sooner. Besides," Weiss gave them a smug look, pretending to downplay this last part, "I needed a place to hide Atlas' Relic after I stole it."

"_I'm sorry, you're breaking up. Did she say…?"_

Blake dropped her head in her hands. "_Weiss_…"

"Honestly, it wasn't that hard once I got my hands on the Winter Maiden. With how easy it was to steal, it really is safer where it is now…"

"Does Atlas know you have it?" Sun asked.

"Nope."

"_What the hell, Weiss?"_

"Hey, I told you that I didn't want Ruby or Oscar finding out…"

"No points for guessing why _that_ is," Blake drawled. Honestly, she wasn't as surprised as she ought to have been. "At least if no one knows where it is, it can't be stolen."

"See? Blake gets it," Weiss defended, trying and failing to hide a smile. The fact that, of everything discussed so far, _that _revelation didn't surprise them the most chagrined Weiss just a little.

"_No wonder Jaune wanted to test his defenses against me,"_ Yang mused aloud. "_He's guarding a fucking Relic."_

Weiss nodded eagerly. If Blake hadn't known better, she'd say Weiss was too eager. Was there _another_ layer to this? Sheesh.

"What was Jaune running for mayor about then?" Blake prompted further now that Weiss was being forthcoming. That, and she just wanted to get back on topic. She was almost afraid to ask Weiss what _other_ secrets she shouldn't have but was willing to spill easily. "And the embargo?"

"Getting Atlas to agree to gift the port base at Argus was a pain in the ass, even with Winter's old military contacts and our current political capital. Quite frankly, when the mayor of Argus decided for some reason he didn't want to accept a free gift, I made sure he lost his seat to Jaune."

"Jaune _won?_" they all let out at the same time.

"You sound surprised," Weiss pointed out the obvious. "Jaune's got a decorated war background, had been serving as the Argus base's commander for a few years at that point, and had family ties to Argus with his sister. We ran a simple campaign highlighting the other mayor's position on the base and that was all it took to oust him." Weiss smiled at the memory, and for a moment, Blake was reminded of the power player Weiss Schnee had grown into. _Thank dust that she can be trusted with that power._ "Jaune was in office for two days, one to be sworn in and one to sign the agreement with Atlas. He resigned immediately and new elections were called."

"I can't believe _Jaune_ was elected mayor," Sun let out dumbly, saying what they were all thinking.

"As for the embargo, that was part of Jaune's condition for accepting," Weiss added on succinctly. "He really didn't like the idea of me turning his military base into an academy. I had to drag him into it kicking and screaming, and one of his demands was that he stay out of the spotlight. So, embargo on Jaune Arc; no news stories about him since."

"_Blake, the next time you find a conspiracy, don't pick a boring one,"_ Yang quipped, earning a nod of encouragement from Sun.

That all made sense to Blake. More than that, she was surprised she hadn't caught on to any of that on her own, despite the efforts Weiss had used to hide it. In hindsight, Jaune's story of running for mayor to accept the Argus base didn't make sense. They hadn't found out until a year after it happened, but Jaune had been granted a rank in the Atlas Military by Ironwood so that he could be given command of Argus and its expansion operations. The timing of Jaune's story didn't make sense.

And there was one last part.

"What about his change?" Blake asked quietly. Weiss met her eyes with seriousness, and Sun and Yang quieted down. "You said you know what I meant that he seems better now."

Weiss closed her eyes and took a breath. This was one of her two best friends they were talking about, after all, and Weiss had been more invested in helping Jaune out of his rut that anyone by far. "Jaune's an idiot with a massive hero complex. Emphasis on _idiot._ Always has been, though he used to be an even bigger one. He didn't even have Aura when he came to Beacon."

Despite the tone, Blake snorted softly at that. She hadn't known that detail, but it made a ton of sense.

"He had a hero complex and was physically incapable of being a hero. Almost getting me killed at Haven nearly broke him, because it was the opposite of what he was trying to do." Weiss paused, collecting either herself or her thoughts. "As much as I helped him through that, being around us… being around actual heroes who could do the things he _needed_ to do… He was never going to heal that way. His fight with Ruby was a blessing in disguise."

"Leaving us really did fix him?" Blake asked tensely. That was the one explanation she'd hoped it hadn't been. She didn't know how to look Nora in the eyes and tell her that.

"Not exactly. There was… another factor, one that Jaune has asked I keep private."

"_Aww, you can't stop __there__,"_ Yang whined, to no avail.

Blake was about to push Weiss on the issue too, before noticing the dumb grin Sun was directing at her. Their conversation in that hotel room came back to her, specifically the part where Sun thought he knew something and refused to share until she guessed it.

"Spit it out before you choke on it," she spat at him, knowing that he'd be annoying as hell if he got it right.

"He was married."

* * *

A weird feeling shot through Yang's stomach at that thought. Fortunately, thinking about it for more than two seconds made Sun's little theory fall apart. There was no way in hell Jaune had gotten married and not even have casually mentioned it.

"_What?_" Blake asked her fiancée, looking at him like he was the dumbest person ever.

"His ring finger," Sun explained, milking every second of this. "Jaune had a tan line on his finger where a ring used to be. He was married."

Yang wracked her mind for any time she'd seen Jaune's hand. She definitely would have noticed a ring and hadn't, but she couldn't ever remember looking for a tan line. What could she say, she hadn't been intimately studying his fingers. _She __had_ _been intimate with those fingers in a number of ways, but…_

"_Not was,"_ Weiss corrected, earning shocked looks from Yang and Blake, "_is._"

Yang's stomach sank to the floor, and she felt like she needed to throw up. Was Weiss being serious?

"_Jaune_ _is married?"_ Blake repeated, just to be sure.

"_Look, please don't tell him you know, or try to look into it. I promised him I would keep this secret."_

"_What? Why?!"_

"_Jaune's happy, Blake,"_ Weiss snapped at her with a surprising amount of sharpness. "_Their marriage works because, among other reasons, Jaune is getting to lead a different life now. I personally think he's overreacting, but he's terrified that mixing his old life with his new one will ruin the balance he's found."_ Weiss let out a sigh and let her head fall into one of her hands_. "I wanted you all to have lunch with him to test it out. Let him see if he thought he could mix things together. He really did enjoy that meeting, but he won't risk ruining what he has now. He's made that clear to me."_

Every word was a gut punch to Yang's stomach. It would have been better, so, _so_ much better, if Weiss had said they had a rocky marriage. Why? Because Yang had just fucked him, that's why! _Gods above, no wonder he was so against it._ He couldn't tell her no without explaining why, and she had drug him into her bed against his wishes.

_Shit._ Yang really did need to go throw up now.

"_You okay there, homewrecker?"_ Weiss' voice snapped Yang back to reality. She was teasing Yang, but the look in Weiss' eye told Yang that she _knew_. And that word. _Homewrecker._ She really was, wasn't she? Yang was certain she was far paler than Weiss' hair at the moment.

"_Hahaha, yeah, it's a good thing that Yang struck out with Jaune then, huh?"_ Sun added with a laugh, not understanding the look Weiss gave her or why Yang was silent.

"_Yes,"_ Weiss confirmed curtly, giving Yang a look that sent shivers down Yang's spine. _She knows what I did, and she just told us she's committed to protecting Jaune's marriage._ Yang felt like taking a long bath in the Grimm pools, with a toaster, and lead weights on her ankles. "_Can you imagine how awkward that would be, Yang?"_

Fucking hell, she was twisting the knife. Weiss was going to hate her for this. Her father had always teased Yang about being a breaker of hearts and wrecker of homes, but Yang never thought that was a fucking prophecy, much less that she'd ruin the marriage of one of her friends.

Yang couldn't even bring herself to breath right now. Her sheer terror and guilt must have shown on her face because Blake was starting to catch on.

"_Yang? Yang, you __didn't_ _have sex with him, right?"_

"I…" Yang sputtered, having no clue what the hell to say. "I… I have to go!"

She clicked the '_end call'_ button so damn hard she cracked her screen. For good measure, Yang chunked the fucking thing at the wall out of anguish. It didn't break but it sure as hell didn't appreciate that. Yang had bigger problems right now.

"FUCK!"

Yang felt like she was having an anxiety attack. She was hyperventilating and had to fight herself to calm down enough to not pass out. More than a few times she spied the bathroom doorway, thinking of running in there and throwing up.

No wonder Jaune wasn't interested in a relationship. No wonder he didn't want to have commitment-free sex until she practically forced his hand. He was married the whole time, and apparently really happy in that marriage!

What would Yang do if she was the reason that ended? Jaune hadn't wanted to cheat on his wife but, _fuck_, she'd forced him to, and he'd done it just so he could keep his marriage hidden. Just so he could keep what was keeping his life together from falling apart.

This time, Yang really did throw up in her mouth, just a little.

Awkward, fitful, and stressed laughs forced their way out of Yang's throat after she forced herself to swallow. The situation was funny in the most fucked-up of ways, and Yang held her head in her hands as she couldn't keep herself from choking out small laughs. She couldn't stop a few tears from falling out, too. Stress-crying was new to Yang. A lot of fucking things were new to Yang right now.

A beep from her damaged scroll finally got her attention, and her dread only mounted higher. Either they were calling back to berate her for being such a god-awful friend, or something worse that Yang hadn't considered yet was developing. At the rate this day was going, she wasn't going to bet against it somehow getting significantly worse.

A twisted, morbid sense of guilt and responsibility forced her feet to take her to her scroll. She deserved whatever hell they were going to give her for this. Yang wouldn't shy away from what was coming to her.

It was just a message from Weiss, and just reading that made her nearly drop the scroll. She knew what this text was about.

It turned out, she did not.

'_I can fix this. Don't do anything rash. Call me later tonight and I'll explain.'_

A second text after it.

'_How soon can you get back to Argus?'_

* * *

"_Yang? Yang?"_ Weiss' voice coming over the scroll snapped Yang back to reality. "_Are you listening to me?"_

"Yeah, yeah," Yang mumbled absentmindedly. "I'm here. Just was thinking. Could you repeat their address?"

Weiss paused momentarily, giving Yang a tight frown. "_I haven't given it to you yet. I need an absolute guarantee from you first."_

"Guarantee of what?" Yang asked, a little insulted that Weiss seemed suspicious of her. Considering Yang had already taken major steps to screw up Jaune's marriage, it was more than fair of Weiss to be suspicious that she might do the same here, and that's what bothered Yang. She was still upset with herself. "Weiss, I really _was _listening last night. You don't need to explain to me the situation again. I am _not_ going to make things any worse for Jaune than I already have, I swear."

Yang wasn't sure, but she probably meant that to cover more than just being a homewrecker. She'd apologized to Jaune for supporting Ruby during the falling out, but she certainly hadn't made up for it. She probably never could now.

Weiss was clearly not convinced. "_Then explain it back to me."_

"Weiss, I'm not a child," Yang snapped back, her stress starting to get to her.

"_The last time you were left alone with Jaune, you had sex with him, so you'll have to forgive me if I'm cautious," _Weiss outdid Yang's snappy tone with one of her own, and one that was angrier than it was stressed. "_If you fuck this up, that's not just on you, but it's on me as well. I refuse to be the reason Jaune's life falls apart, so no pressure, but __explain the fucking plan back to me__."_

"Yeesh," Yang mumbled, not used to seeing Weiss worked up. It sobered Yang right up. "Okay, fine. You want Jaune to see that me meeting his wife _won't_ backfire on him. If you show him that, then he can start introducing her to everyone else, and we'll get our friend back."

"_And what is your role in that?"_

"I'm going to make it up to Jaune by doing everything I can to help him ease into the idea," Yang repeated Weiss' words from their last call almost verbatim. She'd been listening intensely when Weiss told her there was a way to atone for it all. "I'm supposed to meet his wife, make Jaune realize that I am okay with his choices—"

"_Approve,_" Weiss cut in. "_You are to make it clear you __approve__, not just that you are okay with it."_

"Approve, okay with; what's the difference?" Yang asked with a roll of her eyes.

"_Yang, this is serious!"_ Weiss snapped at her aggressively again. "_You have to approve, because even if you are okay with it, Jaune's still going to be scared that it won't work. He might even resent us for trying unless he realizes that I'm right and that this really will work."_

"Okay, okay, I'll make sure I approve," Yang assured Weiss. She didn't seem satisfied with that, but let Yang continue. "So I make sure I approve of his choices, and then show him that if he's still uncomfortable with it, that I would understand and leave."

"_And—"_

"And that I'll promise him never to mention any of it to anyone," Yang continued, cutting Weiss off before she could add that part on. "That much is easy. After what I did, I feel like I'm getting off here easy. Salem herself won't be able to torture it out of me."

Weiss bit the corner of her lip nervously, mulling over the idea in her head. It wasn't too late to abort the whole thing. Yang _needed_ to do this, though. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she got them divorced and never even apologized.

"_There's one more thing."_

"Go for it," Yang stated, trying to project some confidence that she absolutely didn't feel.

"_You need to leave your weapons in your hotel room."_

"What?" Yang asked, more confused than resistant to the idea. "Why?"

"_Yang, trust me, Jaune is going to be a little freaked out when you show up at his house. If you show up armed, his first instinct is going to be to assume you're a threat."_

"Why?" Yang asked, confused. It wasn't like Jaune had any reason to fear Yang. Sure, he might see her and think she's there to ruin his marriage with round two, but surely he wouldn't _attack_ her over that. Or… or would he? Would it be _that_ important to him to protect his marriage that he wouldn't even take the risk? Those thoughts did nothing to settle Yang's stomach. "You know what, if it helps, I'll do it. It's just a gauntlet, anyways."

"_Not just the gauntlet,"_ Weiss corrected her, meeting Yang's eyes with firm resolve. "_The arm, too."_

"You want me to leave my _arm_?" Yang asked incredulously. Weiss didn't back down, though, and Yang really wasn't confident enough about any of this to try to argue the point. "Okay, fine. I guess I'm going stumpy for this. Can I just wear my non-combat prosthetic?"

"_No, I think leaving all of them is the safest play,"_ Weiss answered after a moment to think. "_Jaune's not going to feel threatened if you show up without an arm. Or, he might feel threatened, but he's not going to feel like you could beat him if blows were exchanged."_

"I could kick his ass with a hand tied behind my back," Yang boasted lightheartedly, feeling a little bit more like herself.

"_I'm sure,"_ Weiss drawled, not buying it for a second. "_Just promise me you're not going to fuck this up, Yang. I can't predict what Jaune will do if this spooks him."_

"Weiss, I will do literally anything to make this up to him," Yang reassured her. There really wasn't anything that Yang wasn't prepared to do. Considering what it was that got her into this mess in the first place, there was almost nothing off-limits now. She doubted she'd have to dip back into that well for this, but who knows. _Maybe the Arc household are swingers._ Yang had to shake her thoughts free when she remembered that Weiss was still on the line. "You can count on me. I _will_ do this."

Weiss was not sold, and it showed on her face, but she agreed nonetheless. "_Alright. If you ruin this, I'm hunting you down."_

"That's fair," Yang laughed Weiss' comment off, though just a bit nervously. "What's the address?"

* * *

"You did _what!?_" Jaune burst out at his scroll. His voice got loud and angry _fast_.

"_Yell at me later, but she's on her way."_

"No, no we're not discussing this later, Weiss! You—"

"Shhhhh!" Jaune's wife poked her head around the corner.

"Weiss gave Yang our address and she's on her way to try to meet you," Jaune ratted immediately, realizing that he was being way too loud.

"_What?!_" she let out just as loudly as he had, before rushing over to push herself up against Jaune and in the camera's field of view. "What the hell, bitch?!"

Weiss rolled her eyes and waved at the new participant to the call, but Jaune wasn't fooled. She was a little bit nervous, which meant that Weiss wasn't even 100% sold on her own plan. He was going to kill her the next time he was in Atlas. Jaune knew that Weiss would always do what she thought best regardless of others' opinions to the contrary, but this was a fucking line crossed.

"_Look, Yang feels guilty for sleeping with your husband and wrecking your marriage."_

"But she didn't—"

"_She doesn't know that," _Weiss explained in a hurried manner. "_She really wants to make it up to you two, no matter the cost. I told her enough for her to know that you two don't want anyone finding out about you. As long as __you_ _don't blow it, she'll keep it a secret."_

"You can't know that!"

"What gives you the right to decide any of this, Weiss!?" Jaune hissed furiously, building on his better half's complaint.

"_Look, be mad at me later. If it doesn't work, I'll protect you two from any blowback—"_

"You're damn right you will," his wife _growled_ at Weiss. He wrapped his free hand around her waist and secured her to his side, just to make sure she knew he was still there for her. She'd never even wanted to tell Weiss about them, and maintained to this day that they had gotten lucky that it hadn't backfired. He was going to hear about this for a long time.

"_But she's nearly there, so be ready. I really do think this will work, guys."_

Jaune forced his eyes closed and let out a long, angry breath to try to steady himself. He'd have to be angry later. For now, he had to focus on the task at hand, which was protecting his family first, and then maybe trying to win Yang over like he'd done with Weiss.

"_She's not armed, either,"_ Weiss' voice sounded from his scroll. "_I even had her leave her prosthetic."_

A little bit of weight came off of Jaune's shoulders. Two-on-one against Yang favored them pretty strongly, especially since he let Yang win their spar by not drawing his reserve pistol. You have to keep some options a secret during a spar, just in case there comes a time like right now where you need the element of surprise. _Even against your own friends._ Yang being down an arm and unarmed made it so much less likely she pulled something off on them that they weren't ready for. He didn't like the idea of coming to blows with Yang, but...

Jaune's eyes popped open, and he forced himself to turn and give his wife a quick kiss on the cheek to calm himself down. "Fine. I'll deal with you later, Weiss."

"_Good luck, guys. I really mean it."_

"Yeah, yeah," Jaune's wife drawled passive-aggressively. She wasn't much of a sentimental or affectionate of a person, at least not outside of their direct family. She reached up and ended the scroll call. "Cunt."

Jaune untangled his arm from around her and stood up, mentally preparing himself for what was to come. He had Crocea Mors strapped to his waist before he realized he was being talked to.

"_Jaune!_"

"Yes, I'm here," he mumbled, turning around to find a worried expression on her face. "Sorry about that."

"I asked what our plan was," she pressed on. There wasn't time to _not _mince words, and they both knew it. Huntsman and Huntress instincts, more or less.

Jaune let out a gruff sigh, resigning himself to what was to come. "I guess we'll try Weiss' plan. I'll intercept her in the driveway, and if she really wants to help, I'll call you out there. Be ready."

She nodded, wordlessly grabbing her old weapons and holstering them as best she could. That wasn't exactly what Jaune meant by '_be ready'_, but he liked her way more. Jaune had been getting dressed for work when he got the call from Weiss, so he at least looked the part. She was in shorts and one of Jaune's t-shirts like she normally wore around the house while he was out, which cut a strange figure when combined with her old weapons.

Despite himself, Jaune smiled. There was something about having someone ready to ride for you no matter the circumstances that was incredible. If Yang turned this sour, she wouldn't know what hit her.

The muffled sound of a car door from the driveway alerted them that their time was up. Jaune stepped forward, gently grabbed his wife by the chin, and planted a kiss on her lips. He could feel how tense she was, but she still relaxed into him a little. "I love you, okay?"

"You'd better," she said with a smirk. Her confidence did wonders for his, and he planted another kiss on her forehead, more for his benefit than hers. "Now get out there."

Jaune nodded, leaving her just behind their door and heading outside to intercept Yang. His fellow blonde looked surprised to see Jaune come out to meet her, which meant she didn't know Weiss had tipped him off. True to Weiss' word, Yang only had one arm, and no gauntlet there either.

"H-Hey, Jaune, I…" Yang let out an awkward, nervous greeting, and trailed off as Jaune continued to walk forwards towards her. He wasn't being subtle about keeping her away from the house, what with Crocea Mors on his hip. "I'm _so_ sorry, Jaune! I-I had no idea about—about your wife! I swear that I never would have—"

"_Yang._" He cut her off with a single word. She really did look guilt-wracked, so maybe this did have a chance. "Why are you here?"

Yang's eyes went wide at how curt he was being. He didn't care if she knew he was being defensive. Things were rocky between them right off the bat.

"Weiss… Weiss told me that I could come by," Yang explained, taking no time to try to deflect blame. She really did look like it was eating away at her. Jaune just wasn't sure if that was enough. "I told her that I _had_ to make it up to you for forcing you to—" her head whipped around, before she lowered her voice out of shame, "—to cheat on your wife. She told me I could—"

Jaune held up one hand to stop her, and Yang went silent. "I know. Truth be told, I'm _not_ happy with Weiss right now."

Yang's face fell.

"Jaune, I promise, I'll do anything to help. I can keep _any_ secret, I swear!" Yang let out desperately, her eyes pleading with him to let her try. "I won't even tell her what we did. Just let me make this up to you, _please_."

"She already knows," Jaune let out quietly, watching Yang's eyes widen in horror. "Look, Yang, this is a bad idea. If you want to help me, you can leave and just pretend this never happened."

"S-She knows? _Oh gods…_" Yang let out, sounding sick to her stomach. Somewhere in his mind, he appreciated that she was so upset about what she thought she'd done, but that didn't really matter at the moment. "I-I _have_ to apologize to her then. I know you want to… keep your old life out of this, but I can't bear the thought of being the reason that she hates all of your friends. I-I at least need to tell her that it's _only_ my fault."

Once again, Yang left him in a position where it was too suspicious to say no, only this time, his secret marriage was already out of the bag. He wasn't sure how Yang would react when she found out, but he was largely sure he knew how Ruby would.

"If we do this, I need your _word_ this secret goes to your grave, Yang."

"Absolutely! I promise on everything!"

Jaune considered making her swear it on Summer's grave, or on the vengeance she held for Raven, the two most sacred things Yang had. In the end, he believed that she meant that promise. For now, at least; that was liable to change, and Jaune feared it would shortly.

"Okay." He turned back towards the walkway to the front door expectantly. He knew his wife had been listening in to every word, and didn't need to call out for her.

After a few seconds, he heard the screen door. Jaune's stomach sank and his hand glued itself to Crocea Mors as he watched Yang carefully. He'd never been this terrified in his life, and he truly meant that.

His wife came around the corner slowly and carefully.

Lavender eyes went wide in absolute shock as they met red ones.

"_E-Emerald?_"


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Did anything fun happen last chapter? No? Cool.**

**Oh yeah, there was my favorite scene, where Yang realized she was a homewrecker. That was fun. **

**Too bad nothing else happened last chapter... :P**

* * *

Weiss sat in her office in silence for a few moments after the call with the Arcs ended, thinking to herself as she sipped her morning coffee. It wasn't that she doubted Jaune and Emerald could handle themselves, and it also wasn't that she doubted they could explain themselves to Yang. Weiss never would have orchestrated this if she thought that Yang couldn't be convinced to keep things secret; it's just that _that_ was not her end-goal here. The worst-case scenario here would be brutal on Jaune's family, obviously, but Weiss didn't for a second think that they'd let things get that far.

Weiss was nervous because Jaune was going to be furious with her for going behind his back. As convinced that she was that this would work, what she didn't know was if her friendship with Jaune would recover from it. That was a risk worth taking, though, because she was tired of hiding things for years. She loved Jaune to death and had even come to more than just tolerate his wife, but she also loved her other friends too. They were Weiss' real family, especially now that even Winter was settling down. Weiss had abandoned the idea of a biological family long before Winter and she had put down Jacque and Whitley. She had long since come to find that her friends were more of a family than anything else she had.

And then all those friends split apart – each for their own reasons and none deserving blame for it. It was a natural part of life that they all would focus on different things. Still, Weiss' family was fractured and distant now, and Jaune's secret meant that she couldn't reunite them. Part of her used to blame Ruby for that, since Jaune leaving was what signaled the end of the Team RWBY and Team JNPR days. Meeting Emerald and finding out that Ruby's words didn't mean to Jaune what everyone had thought they meant had changed that, and Weiss wouldn't change the results for anything, not with how well Jaune was doing.

But still, she hated that everyone was so fractured, and she hated having to keep Jaune hidden from everyone else. She just wanted everyone to be happy, but also to be closer than they were. That was why she was doing this. If Jaune and Emerald could make a relationship work and if Weiss could come to accept that, then the others could, too. Obviously, it was Ruby and Yang that were the problem, since Emerald and Mercury were responsible for Qrow. Yang was actually the easier of the two to convince, in Weiss' estimation, and would be a trial run.

It _could _be done for Ruby, though. Weiss could pull it off if Jaune would just let her try. Ruby was normally such a forgiving person, too, and all it would take is breaking through her bitterness at Emerald and sorrow over losing her uncle to get her to see that Emerald deserved a second chance. Weiss wasn't as concerned about Yang, because unknown to the rest of the group, Weiss had _found_ Raven once, and took Yang to meet her. The only reason the others still didn't know is that Yang didn't want to have to explain herself - and why she didn't kill Raven that day. Only Weiss knew that Yang didn't have enough hate left in her to go through with it. That boded well for this.

Getting them both to forgive Emerald, or at the very least move on from it, was possible. Jaune was just unwilling to risk it. He'd rather stay hidden for the rest of his life than take that risk, and while Weiss understood that, he was wrong. This was going to work, and everything was going to be better for it. They all deserved the best ending to their stories, right?

That was why Weiss brought up the topic of visiting Jaune to Ren and Nora, and to Blake and Sun, and why she'd floated Jaune's name when Yang mentioned maybe wanting to settle down. Jaune and Emerald knew that he couldn't avoid them without coming across as suspicious, and Weiss was counting on him either blowing his cover or just realizing that he missed them enough to give Weiss' plan a try. Personally, she had hoped for the second, but if she hadn't interfered by giving Yang a nudge, neither would have happened.

Jaune could handle Yang, Weiss assured herself. He might hate Weiss for putting him in that position, but once Jaune saw that Yang could be made to understand, Weiss would bring Ren and Nora into the fold. And then Blake and Sun. And once he saw that his fears were overstated, they'd all confront Ruby. Together. _As we always should have been._

Weiss took another long sip of coffee, waiting next to her scroll for any call that might come. She trusted that this would work, but if she were honest, she was nervous. Her scroll sat ready for a call from Jaune or Yang.

As the minutes ticked by with no call, Weiss started to relax a little bit. That was probably a good sign. If something had gone really wrong, Jaune would have called Weiss for help going on the run. This would work. Weiss had faith in all members of her family.

Still, she was more nervous than she would have preferred. That was only because she was afraid that Jaune wasn't going to appreciate her faith in her plan, or that's what Weiss told herself.

There was something she could do to alleviate that. Weiss picked up her scroll and dialed her other closest friend.

"_Weiss?"_ Ruby's voice sounded out as she picked up the call. "_Ugh, please tell me you're not calling me at __this_ _hour to talk about my relationship again…"_

It was seven in the morning Atlas time. How was it that both of Weiss' best friends maintained almost no contact between each other and yet both were incapable of functioning in the morning?

"No, I'm calling on business," Weiss answered. She paused, waiting for Ruby to respond to that, and Ruby made her wait until she finished mixing her drink. Instead of coffee like an actual adult, Ruby preferred chocolate milk mixed with powdered caffeine, because of course she did.

"_And you couldn't have called Glynda?"_ Ruby whined, clearly not understanding Weiss' actual meaning. "_I'm just deputy headmistress. Any of your stupid 'business' stuff goes to her anyways."_

"Ruby. _Business_," Weiss repeated, stressing the word. "I happen to need to employ a Huntress."

"_Weiss, I still don't swing that way."_

"I need to hire a Huntress as an _assassin_," Weiss elaborated, speaking slowly and angrily after Ruby's comment. It pissed Weiss off that Ruby was too groggy to even be messing with her on purpose and that her comment had been an automatic retort. _Seriously, you crush on each of your best friends __one time_ _and never hear the end of it._ She'd been too late to act on it for both of them, too, unfortunately. One had been snapped up by the vassal of an immortal wizard and the other by a former enemy. Weiss' luck royally sucked. "And trust me, if I was into you, you'd end up swinging whichever way I want."

"_Sure thing, princess," _Ruby replied, rubbing some sleep from one eye but giving Weiss a teasing smirk. _Okay, maybe she's not too asleep to mess with me._ "_Just because Oscar and I are on a break again doesn't mean I'm available. You really should move on, Weiss."_

"I hate you," Weiss grumbled, earning a laugh from Ruby. Seriously, it had been years since Weiss had felt anything on that front, and even then she wasn't convinced it wasn't induced by a momentary panic that she might end up alone, but Ruby never let her forget it. Weiss wasn't even convinced that _she_ swung that way, but did that stop Ruby from teasing her about it? Nope.

"_So what's this job you have for me?"_ Ruby dropped the teasing finally. "_If it's not far I might be able to take off tomorrow and do it. Things are slow for me this week, what with classes in full swing."_

"Intel," Weiss said simply. Ruby's eyes lit up as she finally caught on. "Vacuo. It's not close, though. Rumors of a remote village with some interesting characters, including one darker-skinned girl with strangely-colored eyes. Honestly, the info is a little thin—"

"_But it could be Sustrai,"_ Ruby finished for her hurriedly. She was already up and moving around her little office. "_This is good, Weiss. Vacuo makes sense with her complexion. Pretty easy to hide that as just a strong tan."_

Weiss felt a tinge of guilt as she watched Ruby so frantically pack some things from her office. All the 'intel' she'd been feeding Ruby for years had magically never quite panned out. It was almost as if Weiss was making sure that Ruby _didn't_ find Emerald Sustrai, or Emerald Arc as she went by now.

"Ruby, you know that she's probably long gone," Weiss stated cautiously. She truly didn't enjoy having to manipulate one of her best friends for the sake of the other one like this. "This lead is pretty weak, honestly. I can have someone else look into it before you take off."

"_No, it's not an issue, Weiss," _Ruby dismissed, grabbing Crescent Rose 3.0 off the hook on Ruby's office wall. "_If there's a chance, I'll take it. Qrow would have done the same for me."_

"Ruby… you need to—" Weiss cut herself off, deciding it best to bite her tongue for now.

"_What was that?"_ Ruby asked, turning away after locking her office door to face the camera. "_I didn't catch what you said."_

"I said that you need to let Glynda know before you run off again," Weiss recovered. She wasn't sure if Ruby was truly that hung up on Qrow's death after so many years, or if Ruby just felt she owed it to her uncle to get closure. If it was the latter, then Weiss could see a path to reuniting her friends - _slowly_ \- that would be without violence.

"_Pfffft, yeah right,"_ Ruby dismissed, flashing Weiss a silly grin. "_She'll think something serious happened if I do __that__."_

"Fine, do what you will. Just be careful."

"_Aww, are you worried about me, Weiss?" _Ruby teased, earning a flat look. "_Still not going out with you."_

Weiss flipped her old partner off, which only made Ruby giggle. Weiss rolled her eyes and ended the call unceremoniously.

"Why are all my friends assholes?" Weiss let out redundantly.

Well, that was done, at least. Weiss knew that Jaune would appreciate Ruby being sent in the opposite direction as Argus as a precaution. It would buy Jaune at least a day if things went sour. Now, it was just up to Jaune and Emerald to prevent that from being necessary.

* * *

Yang's eyes slid from Emerald's to his. They were wide with shock, and her mouth hung open a little. A strange feeling of dread and panic hit Jaune and he forced it down, making sure to appear calm. Their best chance here was to talk this through, no thanks to Weiss.

Yang's eyes shifted back to Emerald's, before Yang briefly looked her up and down to confirm what she was seeing was real. Emerald wore her hair shoulder-length now with the exception of the two strands that were much longer. It was a little different than it used to be, but there was no hiding the color. Or her red eyes. Or her skin.

Jaune could see the wheels finally start to turn in Yang's head, and that scared him more than anything.

"What the _fuck?_"

"_Yang_," Jaune let out cautiously, trying to keep things from getting tense, "I need you to calm down."

"I _am_ calm," she retorted a little bit aggressively.

"Then I need you to stay calm," Jaune amended. His hand was still on Crocea Mors, but it was his off-hand that rested atop the pommel for the moment. He could draw it quickly, but he was not preparing himself to do so. Yet. "Yang, I would like to introduce you to my wife, Em—"

"I _know_ who she is," Yang cut him off.

Emerald didn't like Yang's tone and took a step towards her. Aggression was a bad sign. "You don't know anything about me."

Jaune held a hand out to stop Emerald from walking past him, and to keep her slightly behind him. He cut his eyes at his wife as a brief warning. "Em, you stay calm too."

Emerald harrumphed but accepted, backing down wordlessly. She knew that they couldn't afford for this to _not_ work, and since diplomacy was not her thing, she followed his lead. Jaune returned his attention to Yang, who was coming out of her initial shock more and more with each second.

And getting angrier as she did so.

"I know what you did to my uncle," Yang retorted coldly. "And I know who you worked for. I know we fought against you for years."

"If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't do anything different," Emerald shot back, her tone matching Yang's. Jaune groaned internally. He knew what Emerald meant – that given her circumstances, she'd really had no other choice in life than to go with Cinder – but she could stand to put it in a way that _wouldn't_ incite a fight with Yang. He doubted that Emerald meant to come across aggressively, but she was spooked. There was too much on the line for her and she was getting defensive, which Jaune needed to cut off quickly.

Yang's eyes flashed red at Emerald's statement for a moment, and Jaune stepped in before that powder-keg could be set off.

"_Emerald._"

Jaune didn't take his eyes off of Yang, and didn't need to. Em would know exactly what he meant just by his tone, and she did.

"That… that doesn't mean I'm not sorry for what happened," Emerald conceded with a huff, before softening her expression. Jaune knew just saying _that _was not easy for Emerald, and saying to someone who wasn't Jaune made it harder. He could hear in her voice that she was forcing herself to be calm and admit culpability, two things she'd never been good at. "I don't… like any of what I did, but I didn't have any better options."

Yang looked at Emerald with clear mistrust, before looking back to him. It was a weak apology on its face, and you had to know Emerald well to know just how significant it was. Yang did not know Emerald that well. "Jaune, you _know_ what she did. Who she is."

Yang was implicating him now too, and Jaune took exception to her tone.

"And what, that means she can't change?" Jaune responded, his voice dropping. He was defensive of Emerald and her past, maybe more so that Em herself. Part of that was residual guilt for also having judged his now-wife's sins before hearing her explain why she did them. It made him feel like shit to think that he almost hadn't spared her life. "Blake was a terrorist, and we all forgave her for her mistakes."

"Blake didn't kill anyone!" Yang defended, getting worked up in defense of her friend. That was good, actually; it was what Jaune was looking for. He needed to make sure Yang was thinking everything through instead of locking in on Emerald, and getting defensive of Blake was what Jaune thought was the correct response there.

"What about Ilia, then?" Jaune asked. Yang went silent as she processed what he said. "I know for sure she's killed before. You're on good terms with her, aren't you?"

Yang digested the argument Jaune made slowly, and didn't immediately react to it. His argument had one major flaw in it, namely that who Emerald had worked for was worse than what Ilia and Blake had done, but his point was simpler than that: was there a line that you _couldn't_ be redeemed after crossing?

Yang could see that was the real issue here, and he knew her better than to think she'd say that anyone was irredeemable. Many people could not be convinced to seek redemption, but anyone truly willing to do it could.

No, that wasn't what Yang was hung up on.

"He was my uncle too," Yang let out, her voice close to cracking. Everyone knew that Qrow's death had hit Ruby hard, and it was easy sometimes to overlook that Yang was actually more directly related to him.

"I'm sorry," Emerald called out sincerely, taking a step towards Yang. "We didn't want to do it. He was hunting us down. I just did what I had to do to survive. That's all I've ever tried to do."

He didn't _need_ for Yang to forgive Emerald right now. He didn't even need Yang to like Emerald. He just needed Yang to hear them out, and to not think it worth it to hurt Emerald.

Yang was calming down, but retreating in on herself too. Recoiling from Emerald. Jaune could see plainly on her face that she didn't know what to think or do, but at least she was open enough to hear them out. He needed much more than that to make him comfortable with her knowing their secret, but this was a start.

Yang looked to him, wide-eyed, to confirm what Emerald was saying. He nodded solemnly.

"Emerald grew up on the streets as an orphan, just struggling to get by. When Cinder recruited her for her Semblance, her only other option was to stay on the streets," Jaune explained softly, keeping an eye on Yang's expression. He felt Emerald slide up next to him, and when her hand brushed his left one he took hold of it and gave her a reassuring squeeze, out of Yang's line of sight. Em hated dragging up old memories like this, and he couldn't blame her. "From there, there was nothing she could do. Someone would have tracked her down if she tried to leave, and—" Jaune cut himself off. There was another big factor in Emerald's life, but it was better to explain Emerald's need for stability and security later, when it would make more sense. "When Salem lost, she had nothing left and nowhere to go. She never _wanted_ to be evil, but that's the only option she had."

Until he gave her another one.

Yang was still confused about how she felt, but she was struggling to stay angry. Her eyes shifted to Emerald, who's eyes trailed to the ground out of shame. There wasn't a whole lot of her life story to be proud of, and the fact that she clearly was uncomfortable talking about what she had done made it clear to Yang that Emerald at least wasn't proud of what she did. Compared to people like Cinder, Tyrian, or Salem, that was an important difference.

"Is that true?"

Emerald never looked up, and her voice was fragile. Jaune empathized with her. Compared to her current life, memories of her past were difficult to swallow for Em. "I just wanted to be loved."

Yang's eyes widened slightly, and she just missed the gut-wrenched look on Jaune's face. Even though he knew everything about Emerald, it still hurt to hear her sound so scared and small. He had worked so hard so that she'd never feel like that again. It reminded him of the night that started it all, echoing the very reason he let her live.

Jaune hadn't been expecting her to be _that_ honest with Yang, but it shouldn't have surprised him that she was going to do anything to keep Yang from ruining this. He squeezed Em's hand again, never taking his eyes off of Yang just in case. Em looked up at the blonde after only a moment, recovering as quickly as she could. Part of Jaune wondered if Emerald was playing up looking sad for Yang's sake, but for as good of a liar as Emerald was, she was horrible at faking emotions. If she appeared sad, hurt, or ashamed, she was.

"I just… I don't understand—" Yang fumbled her words, running her one hand through her hair. They were winning her over, at least enough to earn the chance to properly explain everything, like they had with Weiss. "_How?_ How did this all happen?"

Yang gestured wildly with her arm as she asked the question, and it was clear to Jaune that she meant it to very broadly encompass everything, from how they got together to how they ended up married with a house in an Argus suburb while Emerald was supposed to be a fugitive.

"It's a bit of a story. Would you... mind coming inside?" Jaune asked. Emerald stirred by his side, getting his attention. Her eyes begged him not to let Yang into their house – into _her first true_ _home._ "It's okay, Em."

He knew exactly why that had sent panic through Emerald. Yang didn't quite understand the amount of trust he was giving her by doing this, but they couldn't just discuss this for hours in the driveway.

"Weiss made me leave my weapons and my arm. You're not planning on attacking me in there, are you?"

Jaune opened his mouth to answer, but Emerald beat him to it. "Not if you don't make us have to."

Jaune shook his head. "You have my word, Yang."

Yang met his eyes briefly, and despite everything, she still had some faith in him left. Just enough that his word still meant something.

Her eyes slid to Emerald.

"I'll vouch for her, too."

Yang's eyes slid back up to his. "You'd better not make me regret this."

Jaune nodded in acceptance, before letting out a sigh. _Took the words right out of my mouth, Yang._

* * *

_Blood pumped through Jaune's veins hard. He had rendezvoused with the closest of either his team or team RWBY, Blake, to investigate a tip about a girl with red eyes and dark skin, and it had paid off. They had spotted both Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black, the last two of Salem's army still unaccounted for. After what happened to Qrow, no one was allowed to hunt them solo anymore._

_Those two had fled immediately, leading to the chase that had Jaune's blood running hot. _

_Up ahead, Mercury and Emerald split up, with Emerald splitting off down one of the city of Haven's many alleyways while Mercury sprinted straight ahead. _

"_You take her!" Blake shouted, though she didn't need to. Jaune had known which one he was taking the whole way. He was one of the few people who had a counter to Emerald's Semblance. _

_He split off from Blake, following Emerald down the alley. With his long strides, he was gaining ground on her quickly as long as she ran in a straight line, so she tried ducking down any side-alleys she could find._

_Jaune turned the corner to find Emerald stuck at a dead end. Crocea Mors came off his belt, as he held the shield before him and kept the sword poking out overtop. _

_Emerald stood with his back to him, leaned up against the brick wall she had run up against, head bowed out of defeat. Jaune didn't let that fool him, and used his Semblance to probe around. _

_He connected with Emerald's aura. It wasn't anywhere near the brick wall. Instead, it was moving slowly towards him, angling to the side to try to slip past him. Jaune kept his eyes trained on the illusion, and the moment Emerald stepped within range, he lashed out with Crocea Mors at her general position. _

_Emerald yelped and the illusion disappeared, as steel scrapped against steel. She took the blow on her sickles, but the force of it had knocked her unsuspecting ass onto the ground._

"_N-No…" she let out, eyes going wide with shock and horror as she looked up at him. _

_Jaune grinned. Finally, he was going to prove that he belonged on the pedestal he'd found himself on. He had merely tagged along for the fight against Salem, sure, but this? He was about to be the man to defeat Emerald Sustrai. No one would take that from him. Jaune Arc was going to be a hero._

_Emerald scrambled to her feet. Her eyes were watering and her lip quivered, but she forced herself to fight. She could see the walls closing in. _

_She slashed at him with her sickle in much the same way that Ren would. Jaune let the blades scratch against his shield before lunging out with Crocea Mors. Emerald let out a pained cry as it sliced into the aura around her stomach, before Jaune knocked her back a few steps with the flat of the shield. _

"_Please!" she pleaded, her voice frayed from stress and fear. "I didn't want any of this! I-I swear!"_

_Jaune didn't buy it. He tightened his guard and approached her again. _

"_Please!" she begged, some of the moisture in her eyes starting to run down her cheek. She looked terrified, but that was what she deserved. _

_Jaune struck out at her with Crocea Mors and Emerald barely blocked it, staggering backward until her back ran up against the brick wall. Her eyes went wide as she realized she was out of space and, fittingly, out of time. _

_With no choice left, Emerald attacked him with all she had left to give while another tear fell down her face. She knew this was the end. _

_She swiped at him again, and again he blocked with his shield, but she hooked her other sickle around the top of his shield while he did so. She tried to yank the shield down to get a shot at him with her gun, but he was significantly stronger and pulled the shield up over both of their heads while stabbing underneath it. _

_Glassy crimson eyes went wide as Emerald realized her mistake, letting go of that weapon just in time to avoid being yanked off the ground. Her other one got up barely in time to block the stab, but Jaune drug Crocea Mors back across Emerald's aura as he withdrew it. _

_Emerald backed up until she hit the wall again. She held her one remaining weapon before her in both hands, which were shaking so much she might have missed him point-blank. It would have been hard enough to see Jaune through her tears to shoot him anyways. _

_Jaune stared her down, letting her stew, before she did something truly unexpected. _

_Emerald closed her eyes, forcing out more tears as she did so, and bowed her head out of resignation. Her last weapon dropped to the ground, and she dropped down on her knees a few moments later. Her sniffles were loud enough to hear easily. _

"_J-Just make it quick," she choked out. "Please."_

_Jaune held Crocea Mors out, putting the tip to Emerald's throat and forcing her chin up to look at her face. Her eyes stayed closed, but a steady stream of tears fell from them. _

_Jaune's conviction wavered. He could see her eyelids flutter as she fought against herself to keep them closed. She was terrified, but she didn't want to see what happened next. Jaune's mind played tricks on him, and he saw flashes of his friends faces in Emerald's sheer terror. His sisters, too. Pity wracked him. What did it matter if she escaped?_

_No__, he had to remind himself. Emerald was evil. Even monsters cried and whimpered on their deathbeds, didn't they? It meant she was a coward, not a good person. She had helped kill Qrow. She had worked for __Salem__. She really __was __evil._

_And Jaune was a hero, damnit! This was his moment to prove it. This instance right here was what he'd needed for years. Jaune had to prove to himself more than anyone that he was a hero, and it was finally time. _

_Right? _

_But who was he going to save by killing Emerald now? She wasn't a mastermind by any stretch. Hell, she'd barely done anything impactful since Beacon. They were only tracking them down to hold them accountable, and they still weren't certain how Qrow died, only that she was involved. No one really feared that Emerald was going to do anything but fade away into obscurity if she escaped. _

_She was just a girl, quivering and crying at the end of his sword. Her eyes stayed shut because she was too scared to watch. _

_Drawing on every ounce of conviction Jaune had, he stabbed the blade into her throat._

* * *

Yang stared at Jaune in shock. There was… there was so much to what he'd just said that stuck out. He actually _had_ caught Emerald, despite what everyone believed for years. Or… wait, had he?

"An illusion?" Yang asked attentively from her seat on the edge of Jaune's living room recliner. Jaune and Emerald sat on the couch opposite her, with Jaune leaned forward and his hands clasped together, elbows on his knees.

Jaune dropped his head. Emerald responded for him, rubbing her hand gently on Jaune's back as she did so. "No. No, it was real."

Yang looked to Jaune in surprise, and he didn't look up. He clearly wasn't proud of what he'd done, which made Yang think he'd actually done it. She tried to look for any scar on Emerald's neck, but couldn't spot anything.

It dawned on Yang a moment later. "Your Semblance?" she asked Jaune.

Jaune remained uncomfortably silent, but Emerald gave her a succinct nod to confirm her suspicion.

_So it wasn't that Jaune failed to stop Emerald, but that he saved her?_ Yang felt angry about that. Or… part of her did. She was still a tense mess from her revelation last night, and that tension was still there, just underlying everything else now. Yang was struggling to hang on to any one feeling for very long. Part of her sympathized with Emerald, part of her hated her for Qrow, part of her was angry at Jaune for hiding her, and part of her was still nervous that this all really was a good thing for Jaune. If it was, then what she'd done the other night was unforgivable.

Overall, Yang didn't know _what_ she felt, and she hadn't gotten a chance to process hardly any of it.

"Why?" Yang asked, doing the only thing she could: keep asking questions. "Why save her?"

Emerald gave Yang a flat look for asking it so harshly, but Yang wasn't in the mood. She looked to Jaune instead, waiting for him to either look up at her or answer the question.

"Em, could you… get me a glass of water?" Jaune asked, looking up to his side just enough to make eye contact with her. Something unspoken passed between them, with Emerald giving him a worried look. Whatever it was, it reassured her enough to leave him alone with Yang.

Emerald eyed Yang nervously as she got up and walked over into the kitchen. Not out of sight, but just out of earshot if they kept their voices low.

"Have you ever slit someone's throat?" Jaune asked softly, looking up enough to make eye contact with Yang.

"Have I…?" Yang started to repeat the question, trailing off as she understood the significance. She answered honestly. "No."

Yang had stabbed Adam, brawled more than a couple of people to death during the war, and snapped Cinder Fall's neck with her bare hands. Blades weren't normally her style.

Jaune nodded idly, expecting her answer. "It's messier than you think. She was on her knees and fell forward, and the blood pooled on her chin before dripping off."

Jaune stared at the ground in front of him, and Yang felt uncomfortable making him recount the tale. Anything she held towards Emerald aside, Yang had to admit that Jaune wasn't faking their relationship, at least on his end. It was hurting him to retell this. Anytime that anger for Qrow's murder flared up in her, it died whenever she caught the way Jaune looked at Emerald.

Yang's head was a mess. This whole thing was a mess.

"And it was slower than you'd think. I only punctured her throat with the tip. Didn't even make it to the spine." Jaune took a deep breath, and Yang's eyes nervously shifted towards the kitchen, where Emerald was taking her time preparing three glasses to give Jaune the time he needed. "Do you know what the worst part was?"

She had a feeling that whatever she'd guess wasn't what Jaune was getting at. "I don't."

He looked up at her again, their eyes locking. "The sound. Do you know what it sounded like?"

Yang winced as she tried to imagine it with someone she cared about. Just imagining Blake or Ruby dying like that make Yang's stomach turn, but focusing on such vivid detail as what it sounded like made it worse.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"It didn't sound like being a hero, that's for damn sure," Jaune let out bitterly, dropping his eyes back to the floor. "It sounds like choking, and pained gasps, and blood dripping on the pavement." Jaune's fists clenched. "It sounds like a scared girl crying as the life she'd never wanted was drawn out for one last, cruel minute. It didn't sound like I was fucking saving anyone. There's not a fucking person in the world who would be alive because she died right there, so h-how was that the heroic thing to do?!"

Jaune's voice cracked there at the end. He managed to look up at her briefly, just long enough for her to reassure him that she wasn't blaming him and to see that his eyes were watering. Jaune clearly hadn't been trying to convince her. He'd been practicing for someone who would have told him he _should_ have killed Emerald: Ruby.

_Fuck._ What was she supposed to say to that? Even if she held a grudge against Emerald – jury was still out on that until Yang had time to process – she couldn't do anything to harm Jaune, and this was clearly real. She wondered if it went both ways, but even if it didn't, it had clearly lasted this long somehow. Yang wouldn't be able to bring herself to hold it against Jaune even if she did come to the decision that he was wrong to do it.

She was aware that she was being won over. It should have felt good to be reassured that everything was working out for the best, but if that were the case, then Yang was back on the hook for sleeping with Jaune. She really couldn't catch a break. And that said nothing of how Yang was going to look Ruby in the eyes after this.

Jaune held his face in his hands for a few moments, using the action to wipe his eyes subtly as Emerald's footsteps signaled her return to the room. She handed Yang a glass of water which Yang accepted hesitantly, not entirely sure if it was safe to drink. The evil grin Emerald teased Yang with certainly hadn't helped that.

By the time she sat back on the couch with Jaune, he had recovered pretty well.

"So yeah, imagine the look of horror on my face when I realized I didn't have it in me to kill Emerald while she's dying at my feet," Jaune tried to joke, putting on a front for Emerald's sake. She gave him a side-eyed look that cut right through all of his bullshit, but other than that let him have his 'recovery' and hid her expression behind her glass of water. "I was lucky I hadn't punched deeply into her neck. It doesn't matter how strong my Semblance is or how much aura she had still had; there's no way I'm un-severing her spinal cord."

Jaune laughed uncomfortably, still trying to play off the severity of his words through humor, but it fell flat. Yang found herself looking at Emerald's throat once again, trying to see any residual scar. It wasn't that she didn't trust Jaune to be telling the truth about this, but, well… okay, maybe she wasn't certain if she trusted Jaune. Given whose neck it was she was looking at, Yang felt justified in being hesitant to trust Jaune right now.

Emerald noticed what Yang was doing and rolled her eyes, before tilting her head back to give Yang an easier look. It was hard to see from her spot sat opposite Emerald, but Yang could make out a very thin line half-way up her throat, maybe three inches wide. Emerald's fingers traced it for her benefit.

Yang's eyes went wide as she looked back to Jaune. He looked guilty, his shoulders hunched down and his eyes sad, but he made eye contact with her.

That was the moment it hit Yang that this was real. That Jaune really had saved Emerald. That they really were married. That they really were happy and better off now. And that they'd been hiding it for years.

Yang didn't have time to decide what she thought about that. All she could think was that Jaune was finally happy and she'd damaged that. Her head started to spin again, and she changed the subject to try to avoid dwelling on it. "So then what? You healed her and helped her escape?"

"No," Jaune answered, shaking his head. His voice and mannerisms were starting to get back to normal now. "I just… let her go. And that was that."

"Don't listen to him," Emerald cut in, grinning. "I'm sitting there, with my own blood staining my top and tear stains on my cheeks, lightheaded from the blood loss, and this _doofus_—" Emerald turned to Jaune momentarily, who returned her grin with a chagrined one of his own, "—tries to give me a speech about morality and turning a new leaf..."

Yang met Jaune's eyes, and he shrugged. "All I said was that I never wanted anyone to find Emerald again, which meant no more being evil."

Yang gave Jaune a somewhat flat look. She could picture in her mind Jaune doing just what Emerald had described to someone who worked for Salem, and it was cringy. The leer on Emerald's face made Yang suspect it was just as bad as she imagined it.

"_And?_" Emerald prompted.

"…and that if she did, I would hunt her down."

Yang arched an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You had no intention of following through on that, did you?"

"No," Emerald answered for him, "but I didn't know that at the time."

"It worked?" Yang asked, surprised. After all, they were sitting there together now. She would have assumed that was how they got together. Emerald escaping there meant they had to meet again after that, didn't it? "What did you do next, track her down again?"

Jaune took a breath, steadying himself. "You know what happened next."

She knew what happened—? _Oh._ She did know what happened next. It was probably the single biggest event in the history of their teams.

* * *

_Police tape walled off the alleyways he and Blake had chased their targets through just a few hours ago, thankfully keeping crowds and cameras out of sight. Jaune stood there, staring down at a body that had been tastefully covered with a black body-bag. _

_Blake had gotten her target. Mercury Black lay dead on the street, waiting for the rest of the team to fly into the city and confirm the kill for themselves. Some of them had already arrived, and Jaune could hear them talking to Blake in the background. Congratulating her. _

_She deserved it. Unlike Jaune, she __had_ _completed the mission. _

_But he had too. He just let Sustrai go, though. More than that, he healed her. That was specifically failing the mission. But he didn't regret it, even though he knew he should have. Why?_

_He always wanted to be a hero. More than anything else, he desired to be a hero. He __needed_ _it. It was why he joined Beacon without aura or experience. It was why he hated that Pyrrha died to protect __him__, when it should have been the other way around. It was why he never blinked when Ruby asked his team to stand by her side and fight the Queen of the Grimm. He was a fool with a shield and dream that should have gotten him killed. _

_And yet, he'd made it this far, neither dead nor a hero. He was famous as a hero, but to anyone that mattered, he'd been backup. A sidekick. A role-player. That ate away at him, and he knew it __shouldn't_ _have, but it did. It was selfish. He would freely admit that. Weiss had said it to his face time and time again, but she still tried to help him fulfill it. They both recognized that Jaune needed it._

_Deep down, Jaune knew that he had failed. He had marched up the god-damned steps to Salem's fortress and he was still no fucking hero. If __that_ _wasn't the moment he would prove himself, then what was the fucking point? There was no moment in history more tailor-made to create a hero, and he walked out of there as Team RWBY's number one supporter. _

_What did killing Mercury accomplish? Justice? Vengeance? Heroes protect people, not avenge them. Who would killing Emerald have saved? She'd be a fool to ever expose herself by hurting someone again. In all likelihood, she was going to live her life on the run, keeping her head low. _

_No one was going to be hurt. No one to save. _

_Except for Emerald, ironically enough. _

_He didn't like that. He understood the importance of the mission. Jaune knew it was wrong to save Emerald, after what she'd done. But it boiled down to who Jaune was: a failed hero. _

_The mission wasn't right for him anymore. _

"_Blake!" Ruby's voice called out. She was the last to arrive. Jaune was dreading this. "Jaune!"_

_Jaune could hear the wind as Ruby cut through the air, zooming over to the rest of them with her Semblance. _

"_What happened?" Ruby's voice sounded from behind him. She sounded upset. No doubt she'd already heard. "How did she get away?"_

"_We had to split up," Blake explained. He could feel their eyes shifting to his back. Jaune didn't blame Blake for throwing him under the bus, but he was a little annoyed by it. "They separated to try to get away from us. I went after Mercury."_

"_Jaune?"_

_He didn't need to turn around and see Ruby to know she was giving him a sad puppy dog look. Guilt wracked Jaune. Anyone else wouldn't have faltered in his place. He was the only one here who couldn't have finished the mission. _

_He felt horrible for that, he really did. Qrow deserved better than someone who would let his killer leave. That just wasn't Jaune, though. It also wasn't Jaune to lie about it, as much as it would hurt Ruby to admit it to her. _

"_I let her get away."_

_They were the hardest words Jaune would ever say. He couldn't bring himself to turn around and face any of them. It felt like betraying them, and it was. He __chose_ _to let Emerald escape. _

"_Are you okay?" Ruby asked, her voice fragile. That surprised Jaune enough to get him to turn around. He'd expected… well, a more pronounced reaction to his confession. Anger, betrayal, hurt, shock, outrage… Jaune was basically resigning from his role on their team by refusing to bring in Emerald. _

_Jaune's heart sank when he saw Ruby. Her hair was normally wild, but it was a mess now. Bags under her eyes and a sunken look to her. She looked like she hadn't slept since she lost her uncle, and that wouldn't have surprised Jaune if it was the case. _

_He didn't answer her, surprised that her concern was for him. _

"_Jaune?" she asked, trying to get him to respond. She pulled up her scroll for a moment, before looking back to him with a different expression. Ruby was too tired to hide her suspicion. "Your aura is almost full."_

_Jaune blinked at her. "Yeah…?"_

"_How did she get away?" Ruby asked, her voice picking up just a hint of an edge to it. "Blake said you had them in your sights."_

"_Ruby," Blake tried to intervene, "this is Emerald we're talking about. You can't expect just one person to be able to contain her."_

_Jaune blinked, looking back and forth between Blake and Ruby. He'd just said—_

_He'd just said he let Emerald get away. They weren't taking that as literally as he meant it. Everything started to make sense with that in mind. _

"_Jaune's Semblance can track her!" Ruby shot back at Blake, getting aggressive out of nowhere. It was clear to Jaune that Ruby was tired, and had no patience. And she was grieving still. He didn't take much offense when Ruby whipped her attention back to him. "How could you not stop her!?"_

_All of his friends standing behind Ruby were too shocked to say anything. Some might have let it play out anyways, but some he knew would have stepped in if they weren't so surprised by the anger that __Ruby_ _of all people was displaying towards him. _

_Ironically, they were all probably the most bothered by it._

"_I just couldn't," Jaune answered simply. "I… I wasn't the right person for the mission."_

_Jaune stood tall and unreadable. Ruby looked hurt, then devastated, then outraged. They were having two very different conversations. _

"_You're not even __hurt!_" _Ruby shouted out taking a step towards him. "Did you even put up a fight? Or was it easy for uncle Qrow's killer to go free?!"_

"_Ruby!_" _Weiss shouted out. She stepped forward to chastise Ruby and come to Jaune's defense, but was held back by Yang's arm. The blonde wanted to see how this played out. _

"_We fought," Jaune answered solemnly, looking Ruby in the eyes. His were distant, and his mind focused somewhere else. "I'm not sure who won." _

"_Obviously it wasn't you!" He was agreeing with that point more and more. "And it wasn't my uncle! How could you do this, Jaune?"_

_He didn't answer. Jaune had the chance to correct the record then and there, and tell Ruby that he'd chosen to let her leave. Looking over Ruby and the state she was in, he just couldn't bring himself to do that. Her uncle's death had been traumatic to her. He'd rather her be angry at him for failing than for betraying her. That would hurt her less. _

_And it was easier on him, too. _

_Ruby's rage started to die out, and tears welled in her eyes. She was far too tired and stressed to hold them back. She turned her back to him, starting to walk back to the others. _

"_I'm sorry, Ruby." _

_She stopped in her tracks, her fists balling at her sides. She spun around to yell at him. "Well I'm glad for that!"_

"_Ruby__!" Weiss chastised again, this time pushing past Yang. _

"_This was our best chance, Jaune! I trusted you to do this!" she continued to yell at him, ignoring Weiss' attempt to separate them. Tears fell down her face unhindered. "You couldn't even stop one person, Jaune! What sort of a hero are you?!"_

_Weiss gasped, her eyes flicking over to him. She wasn't the only one. He knew why they were looking at him, and he should have been hurt by that. _

_He wasn't, though. Not now. It was becoming crystal clear that they had different ideas of what a hero was. There were two entirely different conversations going on right now. _

"_Ruby!" Weiss shouted, grabbing her partner by the arm and yanking her back. She looked up to Jaune sympathetically._

_He stared at Mercury's body bag. To the others, he looked to be hanging his head in shame. In reality, he was lost in thought. He couldn't escape the thought of how there might have been two body bags laying there. Jaune suspected the memory of killing Emerald would have bothered him in a way that killing Cinder never would have. Cinder had wronged him by killing Pyrrha, and had taunted him about it. She was filled with hate and evil until the moment she died. _

_Emerald? She and Mercury had probably killed Qrow, sure, but he had been hunting them the same way that he and Blake just had. He never remembered her delighting in her work the same way Tyrian or Cinder did. Her final moments were the furthest thing from remorseless or defiant. _

"_Jaune?" Weiss asked, her voice scared for him. _

_He made his choice. He made it the moment he realized this wasn't the hero he wanted to be. _

_Jaune Arc walked away without a word. _

* * *

Yang stood on the back porch of Jaune's home. She'd forgone any of the seats, far too worked up and confused to be able to sit and relax any longer. When she'd asked Jaune if she could have time to herself to think, she'd caught a flash of panic on his face. He recovered and told her she could come back here before she'd even needed to reassure him.

She wasn't going to do anything that would harm Jaune, that much she had decided on. Emerald, well, she wasn't as sure her, but it was pretty clear to Yang that hurting Emerald would hurt Jaune. That ruled out taking direct action against Emerald.

Beyond that? She didn't have a clue how to feel.

Jaune was happy. That was an easy place to start. There were a lot of things Yang needed to reevaluate now, but thinking back on her conversations with Jaune and Weiss before today, things were starting to make some sense. He had found someone and settled down, much like Blake and Sun, or Ren and Nora. That much Yang was happy for him for.

And she was confident that he wasn't faking it, not that Yang really could come up with a reason _why_ he would fake it for her. The way he'd gotten choked up when talking about how they met, the way he looked at her, the fear in his eyes when he looked at Yang… none of that was fake.

The problem was that it was _Emerald_.

How was Yang supposed to just reconcile with that fact? She was at least trying, for Jaune's sake, even if it made her uneasy, and even if he had been lying to them for years. Emerald had worked for Cinder, and for Salem. She'd been there when Beacon fell all the way up through when Salem fell. And she'd killed Qrow! Yang may not have been super close to her uncle, but she was short enough on family already with both her mothers gone.

The thought of Raven jarred Yang's mental process a little, giving her a kick she needed. Yang had reconciled with _Raven_ of all people. _Or not reconciled, but… gotten closure. _ She'd left the meeting with Raven without violence, and had successfully put that chapter of her life in the past. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done, to realize that revenge wasn't worth it. No one but Weiss knew.

In a way, that was similar to what Jaune had done, wasn't it? Everyone else thought one thing about Raven, but she thought a little differently. Had a more nuanced perspective, and more forgiveness than anyone else. _And in both cases, Weiss had helped keep it a secret, apparently._ Maybe she could swallow Jaune and Emerald's secret if she had to.

But it was _Emerald_! Yang was still suspicious as hell of her. She was convinced that Jaune loved Emerald, but not that it went the other way around. How did that relationship work? _Did_ it work, or was Emerald just using Jaune for safety?

If Jaune was happy, did that last one even matter? It had clearly lasted this long, after all.

Idly, Yang wished she had Ruby's guidance on this one. Ruby had such a simple outlook on the world, so black and white, that she could break down almost any conundrum instinctually. It just came naturally for her, and that was one reason they all followed her so earnestly for years.

Yang's one hand pulled her scroll out of her pocket, popping the device open.

Something slapped her wrist hard enough to make her drop the scroll.

"What the hell?" Yang recoiled more out of surprise than pain. What Yang thought was an empty porch faded away to reveal Emerald standing right in front of her, giving Yang a frustrated frown. "Were you spying on me?!"

"What were you going to do with that scroll?" Emerald asked, not bothering to hide an implicit accusation and not caring that she _had_ been spying on Yang.

"I—" Yang cut herself off. She'd been about to text _Ruby._ It dawned on her why that was a stupid idea. Even if she wasn't sold on Emerald, Yang knew better than to tell _Ruby_ about this until she'd had days to process it. Maybe even weeks.

Emerald cocked her head to the side condescendingly. She'd known exactly what Yang was trying to do.

To Yang's surprise, Emerald bent over and picked up Yang's scroll, holding it out to Yang. When Yang went to accept it, she didn't let go. Emerald stared into Yang's eyes purposefully. She was defensive. The stare she gave Yang was intense, but it looked more like an animal backed into a corner.

"I'm sorry," Yang let out, bowing her head a little. "I would have stopped myself before doing anything. That would have been stupid on my part."

Emerald held onto the scroll a little longer, before closing her eyes and releasing the scroll. She clearly _wanted_ to push there, but was restraining herself for Jaune's sake. That, or she was trying her hardest to make Yang more comfortable with the idea of her and Jaune.

"I'm sorry," Emerald forced herself to admit, "for spying. It's just that you're a threat to everything I care about. I didn't even want to tell Weiss, or Cardin, or… you get the picture. I'm a little on edge."

Emerald's tone wasn't particularly friendly, but she was very obviously being honest. Yang appreciated that much. If that continued, maybe Yang could get answers that would put her mind to ease. Everything she was uncertain about revolved around Emerald, after all.

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

Emerald stared at Yang blankly for a moment.

"Invade my home, uncover my existence, jeopardize my entire world, _and_ you want to ask about my feelings?" Emerald drawled, with more sarcasm to her voice than anger. She let out an exaggerated huff on top of it. When Yang went silent, Emerald took a moment to collect herself and refocus on the question, giving Yang a softer look. "What is it?"

Yang hesitated for a moment. She had a lot of questions competing with each other in her mind at the moment and had to boil down to the most important one, since there was no guarantee Emerald would answer follow-up questions. "You and Jaune… how does that work?"

Emerald's eyes narrowed slightly and she turned her head to the side, giving Yang a curious look. "Well, when a man and a woman get horny enough, the man will stick—"

"Not _that_," Yang let out flatly, giving Emerald an irritated look. Emerald grinned at Yang. "I mean—"

"I know what you mean," Emerald cut her off. "You really want to know?"

Yang tried to answer, but the words wouldn't come out. She nodded instead.

Emerald's eyes trailed down to the ground, lost in thought a bit. A somewhat warm, gentle smile worked its way across her face, one that Yang hadn't seen yet. The grin she gave Yang when she looked back up wasn't as antagonistic as it was genuine, if subdued. "Truth is, we're pretty fucked up."

Yang snorted. _Understatement of the year._ Emerald laughed a bit too, before dropping her head back down. She crossed one arm across her body and fidgeted with her fingers, making her look nervous. Or maybe uncomfortable, considering what Yang had asked her to explain.

"To be honest, our relationship is pretty selfish for both of us," Emerald stated, looking up to Yang finally. There was a mix of timidity and aggression in Emerald's eyes, and Yang understood exactly what it meant because it was a look she herself had used in the past. It said '_I'm being vulnerable right now and if you betray that I'll cut you._' Yang had never been _forced_ to be vulnerable like Emerald currently was though. "He tracked me down a month after our… meeting. Weiss had gotten a lead on me and she had offered it to him without telling the others, as a chance to make up for not getting me the first time. She didn't know what he'd done yet."

Yang blinked as she processed that. At this point, she wasn't surprised by it, but just was digesting new information. Yang's shock center had been overloaded beyond recognition already this morning. She half expected Salem to come out and announce their three-way marriage or some other crazy shit. "I'm guessing that Jaune had other things in mind, and that's how you got together?"

Emerald nodded softly.

"I… I was in a really shitty place. I grew up alone and abandoned, and…" her fist clenched at her side, "…and I thought Cinder was going to fix that. I needed to feel safe. Protected. Cared for."

"And you wanted that from _Cinder?_"

"I never said I was smart," Emerald snipped back bitterly. Yang made a point to back down. "Cinder put her hooks in me. By the time I realized she didn't care about me, it didn't matter. I had nothing but security while working for her. After you beat us, after it all ended…"

"You only had Jaune?"

"I had _nothing_," Emerald corrected her. "No safety, no security, no future, no life, nothing. When Jaune found me again, after he'd saved me once, I… I would have done anything he wanted me to do. I was lucky it was him, and not… not…"

"I think I get the point," Yang interrupted gently. Emerald clearly wasn't great talking about this sort of thing, and Yang didn't really want to go down a dark path like that anyways. It was enough to say that Emerald was fortunate she wasn't found by someone who would exploit her again. "So that's why you're married? For stability?"

Emerald cut her eyes at her defensively. "No. That's just how he convinced me to go with him. He was going to set me up with a new identity somewhere, and I just… stuck around. He couldn't bring himself to force me to leave, not when he was clearly helping just by being there."

Yang nodded. She could picture that in her mind, at least the part about Jaune. It fit into her conception of who he was, even with today's many, _many_ revelations. He wouldn't have it in him to make her leave.

"From there, it isn't hard to see how things developed. I needed someone to support me, and protect me, and make me feel secure. Someone to actually care about me. To… to love me. And he did." Emerald dropped her head, embarrassed. Yang could see her grinning, though it was a bit of an awkward, goofy grin. It reminded her a ton of Jaune. "And in return, he finally got to save someone."

Yang went silent. She studied Emerald as closely as she could, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see Emerald as being anything but honest. A lot more honest than Emerald _wanted_ to be, and Yang could tell that Emerald was only doing this because she needed Yang to keep their secret.

The worst part was that Yang had come around. Forced honesty or not, this Emerald was not the same person Yang had fought against years ago. Jaune had done good. Part of Yang wanted to know how Qrow died, but she recognized that she wasn't in any state of mind to digest any more huge secrets. Right now, even if she assumed Emerald herself did it, she wasn't certain that would change her mind. Maybe it would, but Yang needed time to process things. She could get the story from Jaune later.

That… that left one awkward topic left for them that Yang couldn't hold off on. The one that had been eating away at Yang all night.

"E-Emerald, about—about the other night," Yang started off, that sinking feeling in her stomach returning with a vengeance, "with me and Jaune. Y-You know he didn't want to do that, right? I practically forced him to! I—"

"Yang."

"I'm _so_ sorry!" Yang let out, her voice threatening to crack. Gods, not only had Jaune found something important in his marriage, but it had changed Emerald's life. Their marriage had redeemed Emerald, and she had undermined that. Yang hadn't thought it possible for her greatest sin to have gotten any worse. "I promise you that I'll make it up to you! I—"

"_Yang_," Emerald tried to stop her again. There was a grin growing on Emerald's face that was confusing Yang. "As much as I _love_ watching you squirm, you don't have to apologize."

"No, I really do! I swear that—"

"_You didn't have sex with him_," Emerald blurted out, struggling to get a word in edgewise.

Yang stared at Emerald dumbly.

"I'm pretty sure—"

Yang cut herself off immediately as the entire world around her shifted. The porch changed into the bedroom in the suite she'd had sex with Jaune in. Yang took a quick look around before turning back to Emerald and giving the green-haired girl a suspicious look. Emerald nodded to confirm Yang's suspicions, and a few moments later, the projection around them shifted to show a copy of Yang laid back on the bed, legs open for business, having sex with nothing but air.

"How—?"

"Semblance," Emerald explained, grinning.

"But I felt it…?" Yang mumbled, confused. "It was more than just a vision."

Emerald nodded.

"I can make you hallucinate more than just visually. Sure, I had to mix in some personal memories, but hey, we _needed_ you to buy it. You'd be amazed at how realistic I can make something when my Semblance gets boosted." She shrugged. The gears started to click in Yang's mind. "What, it didn't feel a little _different _to you? Like you were experiencing someone else's memories, maybe?"

"You _faked_ my orgasms?" Yang let out, grasping on the first word she could as it all clicked into place.

"No, those were all you," Emerald answered with a shrug, and just a bit of a grin at Yang's expense. "I just provided the stimulation as I remembered it. I didn't realize that it would be _that_ effective. It was the first time we'd tried this."

Yang stared at the wall distantly, before another revelation hit her. "I _knew_ he couldn't be that good!"

"The fuck did you just say about my husband?"

Yang ignored her, already charging back into the house to find Jaune. There was going to be some hell to pay, as Yang had been so embarrassed about how she had thought that night had gone for her. If the heat in her cheeks now was any indication, she was once again embarrassed again at having been made a fool.

Jaune was still sitting on the couch, but on a scroll call. As soon as Yang burst back inside, he abruptly said a quick goodbye and shut the scroll. It had looked like Weiss, but Yang didn't get a good look or even care to.

"You _asshole!_" Yang yelled, walking right up to the couch. "I thought we had sex! Do you how sick to my stomach I've been all night!?"

"Keep your voice down, Yang," Jaune replied, trying to placate her.

"That was pretty fucked up, Jaune!" she accused. "Letting me think we'd fucked and that you weren't interested in me?! That I wasn't good enough for anything but a one night stand!"

Nevermind the fact it had all been Yang's idea.

"I had to do anything to keep this secret," Jaune answered in a hushed tone. "It wasn't personal, Yang. I didn't want to hurt you, but I couldn't risk you getting suspicious if I kept turning you down."

"I wanted him to actually fuck you," Emerald called out, having followed Yang inside. "Wasn't certain my Semblance would work _that_ well, and there was no way in hell I was taking any chances. We had a big fight about it, too."

"The chance for _what_, me to find out?" Yang let out indignantly, finally finding an avenue for all of the stress and tension she'd built up. "You didn't trust us to give her a second chance! You didn't trust us to trust you! How is that not personal?!"

Yang was only realizing it as she said it just how far they'd gone to hide this, too. Years of deception with Weiss' help, an embargo on his name in the news, almost no contact over a decade, ducking out of every reunion and meetup… It was way overkill. Sure, it would have been rough, but the fact that he couldn't fucking trust them to adjust to it?

Even if Emerald had killed Qrow, surely Jaune knew they would forgive her eventually. They wouldn't hold her past against her once they saw how she'd changed, and they would definitely give her a _chance_ if Jaune vouched for her.

It wasn't like they were going to attack Emerald and Jaune on the spot! Ruby _maybe_ would have, but even then, they both have aura. They could just put some distance between them and let Ruby cool off. Even if they came to blows, surely Jaune could see than everyone else would break up the fight, even if they didn't like Emerald. No one was going to hurt her in cold blood.

Honestly, it was insulting! He trusted them that little!

"We couldn't take the chance, Yang," Jaune pleaded with her. "_I_ couldn't take the chance."

"You two would have been fine and you fucking know it!" Yang accused loudly, jabbing a finger in Jaune's chest.

"Daddy?" a new voice called out, sending a shiver down Yang's spine. "What does '_fucking'_ mean?"

Yang turned around to see Emerald panic. Her body went stiff and her eyes went wide, and she looked up at Yang, fearing the worst.

Yang's eyes shifted to the source of the sound. A little girl, maybe six years old, had walked into the room, yawning and rubbing sleep from her eye. She had a skin tone between Emerald's and Jaune's, with long locks of Jaune's blonde hair and Emerald's red eyes. It was like looking in a mirror at an angry Yang, topped off by the fact that the girl was wearing a set of Yang's pajamas from the Team RWBY line that had been licensed.

Yang's words died in her throat.

"I hear mommy say it a lot," the girl continued.

Yang turned to Jaune, eyes wide. Jaune put a hand on Yang's shoulder and leaned in by her ear as he walked past her, whispering a warning. "_I will not take __any __chances, Yang._"

Her blood turned to ice with each whispered word. Yang didn't miss how firmly he grabbed her shoulder, or that both Jaune and Emerald were now between Yang and this girl – their kid!

"Sweetie, I have someone I want you to meet," Jaune announced, going down on one knee to get his daughter's attention. Emerald about flipped out on Jaune at that, very clearly against letting Yang anywhere near the kid, but Jaune met her eyes and signaled for her to calm down.

Yang's stomach flopped. She'd just accused Jaune of not trusting them and now he was letting her do _this?_ Fuck. _Fuck fuck fuck._

Once the little girl had wiped all the sleep from her eyes, she looked up to see who her dad was talking about, and her jaw dropped to the floor. Yang could have sworn her eyes sparkled. It clicked: s_he was wearing Yang pajamas!_

"This is a friend of mommy's and mine. Say hi to Yang."

The girl went from amazed to gun-shy in front of her idol almost instantly, fidgeting with her long blonde locks. "H-Hi."

Yang almost melted.

"Yang," Jaune called out, playing along but hiding just a hint of something else in his voice, "this is our oldest daughter, Bixbite Arc, though we call her Bixie for short."

"No!" Bixie shouted, apparently forgetting her bashfulness, stamping her foot and _oh my god she's adorable!_ "I'm fye-ree!"

Jaune laughed good-naturedly, which drew Yang's confusion. He turned to 'correct' himself. "Sorry. We usually just call her '_Fiery_.' Emerald wouldn't let me pick any of my friends' names, so I had to figure out how to trick her."

Jaune's eyes trailed up to Emerald's slyly. She gave him a flat look.

"So... '_Fiery_'?" Yang asked, confused.

"I was gonna call her a sunny little dragon, but," Jaune looked back over at his daughter, and pointed out her red eyes, "I think she's a little more of a fiery little dragon. Don't you?"

Jaune gave Yang a goofy grin, knowing full-well what that name meant. Yang tried and failed to formulate words several times. Her eyes flicked from Emerald to Fiery to Jaune, and her mouth never quite closed.

"Did… did you say your _oldest_ daughter?"

* * *

**AN: Fuck me, this chapter covers so much and it still didn't get everything I wanted, and it is 12k words. Next chapter will take care of the rest, if I can ever sit down and write it. We've now caught up to everything I have pre-written. **

**As for "Bixbite," the name picked itself when I was researching gemstones. Since Emerald, understandably, wouldn't want to name her child after any of Jaune's friends on account of them still being on the hunt for her, Jaune decided to name their kids the same way that Emerald was named: after gemstones. Bixbite is a red gemstone, but there are plenty of those. The reason I went with that one?**

**Bixbite is a member of a family of gemstones, and the most common and most famous of this family? The emerald.**


End file.
